Hank Snow Tribute moving on home?

Organizers had always dreamed of bringing the Tribute to Liverpool, but the facilities just weren’t able to handle the volume of traffic.

“We just don’t have a place to hold it (in Liverpool). It’s a large event,” said Donna Wamboldt, Society Administrator and Tribute Co-coordinator. “The biggest thing stopping us right now are the accommodations. We don’t have enough, and our grounds aren’t prepared enough to hold the amount of RVs we get”

The Tribute committee and the museum are hoping to upgrade the grounds around the Hank Snow Country Music Centre so that they can accommodate the RVs that would come.

She added Queens Place multi-use recreation centre and Best Western hotel would be a huge benefit to the museum, as well as the festival, providing a venue and accommodations so close together.

The Tribute started with a group of dedicated Hank Snow fans at Summerville Beach in 1991.

“I had to laugh. Our very first one was a beach barbeque and picnic, and only a few acts of entertainment,” said Wamboldt.

In its second year, the Tribute moved to Caledonia. Eventually, the event got too big for Caledonia to handle, so it moved to its current home at the South Shore Exhibition Grounds in 1999.

Funds from each year eventually went into changing the old train station to the Hank Snow Country Music Centre in 1997.

Last year the Tribute went for four days and sees dozens of acts take the stage and over 6,500 people through the gates.