By Dori Modney (@Dori_Modney on Twitter)

One Horse Town rolls into Taber this week

Sep 8, 2018 | 1:00 PM

TABER — Just over 3000 tickets sold out in less than an hour and it will be the largest ‘One Horse Town’ event Coors-Banquet has ever hosted.  We already know the benefactor is the town of Taber.
 
But, there could still be some tickets to be had!
 
There’s quite a bit of history behind Coors-Banquet, which was born and continues to be brewed in the small town of Golden, Colorado. The company recognized that small towns are frequently overlooked for big concerts and other events and their product is associated with country music.  The themeatics in a small town are the same attributes that run through country music — hard work and never taking short cuts. 
 
Molson Coors PR Manager Jessica Teixera explains that’s how the Coors-Banquet ‘One Horse Town’ came to be. 
 
“We decided that we wanted to bring a small town, which usually doesn’t get access to something like this, a big country music concert, featuring an all-Canadian line-up of country music talent.  This year, it’s Kira Isabella, Tim Hicks and headliner Dallas Smith.”
 
Anyone could nominate their town (under population 50,000), as long as they were small town proud and they loved country music.  There was a short list of six finalist towns that represented regions within Canada: Taber, AB; Williams Lake, B.C.; Miramichi, New Brunswick; Napanee, Ontario; Nicolet, Quebec; and Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
 
Previous winners were Lacombe, Alberta in 2015 followed by Truro, Nova Scotia in 2016 and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 2017, which sold 2400 tickets.
 
The voting period allowed towns people and even those who lived outside the town, to get as many votes in before the voting period closed on May 27. Taber won with about 70,000 votes and will enjoy the concert on September 15.
 
Teixera says set up begins this week as the venue is built ground up.
 
“We don’t use any existing concert venue because often small towns don’t have something like that. So, this year it will be at Taber’s Confederation Park and we will be literally building the stage, bringing everything and transforming that area into an excellent concert venue, with the right acoustics and the right view points and you will never know that Confederation Park wasn’t meant to be a concert hall.”
 
Teixera understands that people outside of Taber may be disappointed in not getting tickets to the event. However, since the contest is dubbed “One Horse Town” and is designed for a small town, the number of people who can be accommodated will be limited. 
 
“Of course, we wanted to make sure the residents of Taber, who lived there and nominated their own town and possibly voted everyday, were the first ones to have access to the concert.”
 
However, she was glad to hear many Taber residents have been giving their ‘plus one’ tickets to folks in Lethbridge and elsewhere, who stood by the small community.
 
As is sometimes the case, there are a few extra tickets that have been made available. LethbridgeNewsNow has two pair to give-away. 
 
If you are over the age of 18 and are interested, go to the LethbridgeNewsNOW Facebook site.  In the comment section under this story, tell us why you want to attend the concert and share this with the person you would like to take.
 
We will let you know on Monday, who the winners are.  Make sure to read the all-important Coors Banquet Canada – One Horse Town concert facts. All attendees MUST be over the age of 18.