Bonnyville’s Canada Day to feature rock group that has sold 1 million records

The Canada Day entertainment in Bonnyville will feature an artist that has sold over a million records, but it won’t be announced for a little while yet.

Deputy Mayor Byron Johnson was in the Lakeland Connect studio on Wednesday for The Morning After and teased that this year’s concert is a household name and Canadian classic rock band.

“They are Juno award winners, very well known. Four platinum albums and over a million albums sold worldwide for this group. We’re very excited to have them here for Canada Day,” said Johnson.

The opening group is from Edmonton and is a popular opener for classic rock bands, Johnson continued.

Johnson, who sits on the Canada Day committee, said they will announce the itinerary in the coming weeks.

Last year, Canada Day was a damper as heavy rain forced the cancellation of Doc Walker and fireworks.

Some of the funding allocated for last year’s fireworks has been added to this year’s budget. But the overall budget has been increased due to the COVID years and lack of events.

Otherwise, the schedule of events will run relatively the same as usual, with tentative plans for a pancake breakfast, parade mid-afternoon, and family activities at Little Leap Park.

The question about moving some of the activities indoors to the C2 if the weather goes south again was posed.

“The tough part with that is we have basically one big stage in town and that’s the C2’s. So when it’s set-up out there with the lighting and sound, it’s not something they can within an hour’s notice pack up and move it to the C2…that’s the catch-22 we run into. We always keep a close eye on the weather and the long-range forecasts,” said Johnson.

“We’re hoping Mother Nature is nice to us this year, after last year.”

The Morning After