The Final Show - Story and photos from The Citizen, June 28, 2024 Scott Stephenson, author and photographer.

The Big Finale - "I Saw the Light".

Bittersweet Afternoon of Old-Time Music

Canada's Largest Travelling Barn Dance had its farewell show on Sunday afternoon, and a fine farewell it was. The sold-out performance was fittingly held at the Wingham Town Hall Theatre on Josephine Street, which has hosted many a Barn Dance show over the decades. Sunday's spectacle witnessed the Barn Dance Show Band backing up a veritable "who's who" of old-time country music, many of whom had their start right there in Wingham.
Inventor W.T. Cruickshank's first live Barn Dance broadcast happened in his hometown of Wingham in 1937. He soon devised a way by which he could transmit the audio from live shows anywhere that had access to long distance telephone lines back to his transmitter at the CKNX radio station, and Canada's Largest Travelling Barn Dance was born. CKNX expanded to include a television station that broadcast shows like Circle 8 Ranch. In its heyday, Barn Dance not only attracted big name talents from across Canada and the United States - it created stars like Earl Heywood and Ernie King, while also fostering creativity.
Barn Dance grew into a musical phenomenon that saw families all over Southwestern Ontario spending their Saturday night indoors, gathered around the radio, listening to old-time country music being performed all over Ontario. The live shows themselves were the social event of the week every Saturday night - to find out what town the next show was going to be in, music fans had to check their local newspaper for the announcement.
The Barn Dance radio program went off the air in 1963, and CKNX eventually ceased broadcasting independent television and radio programs entirely. The Barn Dance Historical Society (BDHS) was formed in the 1990s with a mandate to not only memorialize Wingham's musical past through projects like the Barn Dance Museum, but to keep the music thriving by putting on incredible live shows featuring talented musicians of all ages. The BDHS hosted an annual Jamboree Weekend in Blyth that ended in 2023. The Barn Dance Museum also closed permanently last year. Following Sunday's extravaganza, the BDHS will be dissolved.
For its farewell performance, an impressive percentage of the Barn Dance family was there to say goodbye like they've always said hello - in a friendly kind of way. The current iteration of the Barn Dance Show Band, led by Doug Dietrich, gave a powerhouse performance, backing up regulars like Paul Weber and Randy Satchell, as well as legendary country artists like Larry Mercey and Marie Bottrell, who came to offer songs as a tribute to the place CKNX Barn Dance holds in their hearts.
The earlier generations of Barn Dance artists have inspired many young rural people to pick up a fiddle, or just feel confident in their ability to carry a tune. Some of those carrying the old-time torch are family members, like Earl's son, Grant Heywood, who grew up with Barn Dance and went on to become a professional musician. Some, like yodeling sensation Naomi Bristow, were given an early chance to show off their skills on stage at the Barn Dance Jamboree.
Throughout Sunday's show, Jim Swan truly earned the title as Master of Ceremonies by transporting the whole audience back to the golden days of radio. He started the show by counting in the band to coincide with the moment the radio broadcast would begin, to avoid any dead air, even though it was a live show. Swan's trademark sense of humour and seemingly bottomless well of practiced patter would be right at home on any radio program.
Swan didn't just introduce the musicians and special guests - he regaled audiences with tales of Barn Dance history, shared the lore of days gone by, and drew attention to the familial threads that have kept this beloved rural musical style alive for generations. The audience was populated with Barn Dance fans, friends and family members who were more than happy to engage in little games of "I remember when" during intermission.
There's no question that each and every artist in attendance contributed their own brand of world-class talent to the goings-on, but they all also brought with them a unique piece of local history that they carry within themselves everywhere they go. Families no longer gather around the radio, and the Barn Dance Museum may now stand empty, but the true legacy of Barn Dance will continue to live on.
During a break in the show, BDHS President Ruth Baxter and treasurer Gord Baxter announced that, as the Society's final act, it would use its remaining funds to set up five sizeable scholarships at as many Huron County schools to further the musical education of local students, and to keep the spirit of old-time music alive.
At the end of the show, all the performers took to the stage to perform the Hank Williams' classic "I Saw the Light" one last time. Until the first Barn Dance reunion show, of course.

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