Saturday kicked off with a very successful FanFest which at one point saw more than 300 fans waiting in line to be let in to the 2,500 capacity venue! I got to meet newcomer Alessia Cole

Sat Fan Fest Alessia

Autumn Hill stopped by to sign our guitar!

Sat Fan Fest autumn

Enjoyed the beautiful Halifax dock area with Lindsay Broughton!

Sat Fan Fest Lindsay

Just goofing off with Northern Heights backstage

Sat Fan Fest Northern

Wes Mack was one of the early crowd favourites.

Sat Fan Fest Wes

After great performances from Dean Brody & Paul Brandt, Emerson Drive, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Bobby Wills, Jess Moskaluke, Chad Brownlee and more- a very emotional Tim Hicks was surprised during his set with a Gold Record for “Here Comes the Thunder”

Sat Fan Fest Hicks

Back to the hotel to get suited up for the Industry Awards & Gala which featured performances from Emerson Drive, Cold Creek County, Lindi Ortega, Bobby Wills with Patricia Conroy and a brand new song from Jess Moskaluke

Sat Gala Jess

Oh and did I mention the food? Check out this menu!!

Sat Gala Menu

One of the biggest winners of the night was Mike Denney who won Record Label person of the year and his label MDM won Record Label of the year! This guy is super passionate about his artists!!

Sat Gala Mike Denney

Off to the Casino for the All-Star band awards hosted by the always hilarious Wendell Ferguson. The very talented musicians of Canadian Country Music were honored- and Gord Bamford’s band cleaned house! We were treated to some great performances too from Madeline Merlo, Tristan Horncastle, Jordan McIntosh, Leah Daniels and Lindsay Broughton (below)

Sat band awards Lindsay

Oh and the Lovelocks!!

Sat band Awards Lovelocks

Then it was back to the Marquee to celebrate with Mike Denney and the entire MDM roster for their showcase hosted by Beverley Mahood. Jess Moskaluke debuted some brand new music for the crowd!

Sat MDM Jess

And not to be outdone- Chad Brownlee debuted some stuff as well- some of it being played live for the first time EVER!

Sat MDM Chad