TORONTO - Four of Canada's most passionate and music-loving communities, including Estevan, have been named the inaugural winners of SiriusXM Music Town contest.
These communities have won a once-in-a-lifetime concert experience for their towns. After weeks of voting and online rallying, Estevan defeated Lloydminster, Sylvan Lake, Alta., and Nanaimo, B.C. Estevan was the smallest of the four Western Canadian markets.
Estevan will enjoy a concert by Dallas Smith later this year.
"We are thrilled by the response from Canadians for the inaugural SiriusXM Music Town program, and the passion and enthusiasm all of our finalists showed to bring live music to the heart of their community," said Paul Cunningham, senior vice-president of sales and marketing with SiriusXM Canada.
"The spirit of this program is to bring people together to share an experience that only live music can provide. We have partnered with the best of Canadian talent to ensure that this fall, these four communities will have a night to remember."
The four winning communities were selected based on their nomination story, online voting and social rallying, and their unwavering spirit to be named a SiriusXM Music Town. Over 100,000 votes were cast for the different communities, with local officials and community leaders motivating residents to get involved and bring live music to the heart of their town.
“Located in southeastern Saskatchewan close to the Souris River, Estevan is known as the sunshine capital of Canada – but residents would love to host a concert to bring even more brightness to their home,” stated a press release for the event. “Estevan enjoys an average of 3,536 hours of sunshine and the highest number of hours each year of clear blue skies, but this unusually sunny town has unfortunately experienced dark times recently with the downturn in the Canadian oil industry.”
The nomination expressed Estevan's desire to win the competition.
"I live in a small city in the great Prairies. We are a blue-collar town, mostly working in the oil patch or in our coal mines. Sadly, much has been said about shuttering our power plants, and added to the reality of a precarious oil patch future. All of this reality has hit us hard, after years of producing energy for our home province and our surrounding neighbours, and the new reality is threatening to take away our present and that of our future of our children. This is not easy to write, nor is the future which is ominously waiting for us. We would love to have you come to our city and bring us a modicum of joy, even though it may be a one-time event, the brave men and women and children of Estevan who face such an uncertain future could really use a shot of Canadian talent. I know our town, and I know that the generosity of your offer would make us rise up and make all of us so very grateful. We have never hidden from the reality of what the next years will bring," reads one of the nominations.
The concerts will take place in September and October, with details including date, location and ticket information to be announced in August.
Miramichi, N.B. was the Eastern Canada winner. They will get a concert courtesy of the Arkells. The Quebec winner, Blanc-Sablon, will get a concert from 2Freres in Blanc-Sablon, while Walk off the Earth will perform in the Ontario winner of Orangeville.
The next edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
The town of Estevan knows how to rally. After a difficult few years, local small businesses and music fans came together to drive thousands of votes and rally points to win SiriusXM Music Town in Western Canada.
