Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame
The History
In June of 2009, Cantos acquired the CCMHOF and Collection from Deb Buck, widow of the legendary Gary Buck who put the collection of memorabilia together over the last number of decades. When Gary passed in 2003, Deb began looking for an organization to take over operations – one that would take good care of the collection and help fulfill Gary’s vision for it as a basis for programs that promote the legacy of Canadian country music. It took some time to find the right fit.
With the status of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in flux, the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA), reached an agreement with the Merritt Walk of Stars in 2008 to display the plaques that recognize the inductees into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame – an organization that was the result of a collaboration of Gary Buck’s Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Association’s Hall of Honour.
When Cantos Music Foundation learned the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame was in danger of leaving Calgary, the organization set forth on an emergency fundraising effort to acquire the Hall of Fame and Collection from Deb Buck and to keep this important piece of Canadian music history in Calgary where more people would have the opportunity to see and interact with it.
When Deb Buck learned of Cantos’ mission to build a national music centre and its experience in building and caring for historic music collections, she knew she had found the right fit for her late husband’s labour of love. So, Cantos was chosen to carry forth the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame’s mission.
In the summer of 2009, the Hall of Fame opened to the public for the 10 days of Stampede during which more than 24,000 people came through to learn more about the colourful people and stories that make up Canada’s country music past, present and future.
The Present
Cantos is currently working out a strategy to ensure the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and Collection remain on the Stampede Grounds until the completion of our National Music Centre project in 2012-13. We continue to build programming around the collection to ensure the stories of these great Canadian musicians come to life.
We are also in the middle of a massive effort to track down and contact all of the artists and their families to talk about their memorabilia, their stories and the future of the Hall of Fame. We have been able to find about 30 per cent of those with memorabilia in the Hall of Fame and continue to search for others with the help of dedicated volunteers like Dianne Kerr and Maryanne Gibson of Global Country. If you’re an amateur detective and would like to help out with this venture, we can always use a few good people on the case! Please call Terry Palmer at 403-543-6283 to volunteer your time.
The plaques are currently not available for public viewing as the Merritt Hall of Honour has neither a temporary nor a long-term home. After a heated debate with local residents the Hall of Honour committee recently withdrew its request to the City of Merritt for $300,000 to top up the $900,000 already committed by the provincial and federal governments. The city’s Mountain Music Festival, the heart of its “Country Music Capital” brand, is not expected to run in 2010 due to lack of funding.
The Future
The CCMA, the Merritt Hall of Honour and Cantos Music Foundation are all working together to come up with a solution that makes sense for everyone – most of all, the Hall of Famers whose stories the collection tells and the people who want to hear those stories.
The current plans are for the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and Collection to be open at its usual location on Stampede Park during the 10 days of Stampede July 9-18, 2010.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact Cantos Music Foundation at info@cantos.ca or by calling (403) 543-5115.
