Saturday night at the Quattro Hotel and Conference Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, 10 northern Ontario country artists were given special honours by the Northern Ontario Country Music Association (NOCMA).
They included George Pinder who was inducted into the NOCMA Hall of Fame and nine regional inductees into the Great Northern Opry.
Timmins’ Robert Marin is thrilled to now be counted among the 115 members entered into the Great Northern Opry over the last 27 years.
“This is fantastic,” he told TimminsToday. “I love country music. I grew up with it my whole life.”
“Mr. Dave Patterson, the president (of the NOCMA), has been very supportive over the years. It’s a great honour for me because I’ve been working at it so hard. It’s like a dream come true.”
The 47-year-old drummer has been playing rock and country music most of his life, he said.
For the past 15 years, Marin has been keeping the beat with Yvan Nadeau and The Banditos, playing a variety of clubs in and around Timmins as well as festivals throughout Ontario and Quebec.
“It’s great that we all sing and we all work very well together. We’ve lasted 15 years, and hopefully another 15 plus,” said Marin.
Marcel Gosselin, also from Timmins, was among the nine inducted into the Great Northern Opry, as well as Robbie Shawana from Manitoulin Island, North Bay’s Don Delorme, Gord Gibson from Sudbury, Dennis Jacques from Blind River, from Sault Ste. Marie Fred Pelletier and Hugh Allan, and Parry Sound’s very first Opry representative Terry Little.
In addition to the Opry inductees, other honours handed out Saturday night included the Carol Patterson Memorial award presented to Glena and Beth McDougall, Yvan and Linda Nadeau, and Frank and Cheryl Robbins.
The Barb Arnill Award was presented to Margo and Rick Dale, the Bill Haight Award went to Jack Bringleson and Scott Infanti, and the Mike Case Memorial Award was presented to Ashton Mowbray.
The final honour of the evening went to NOCMA co-founder George Pinder who was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame.
Pinder is the 47th northern Ontario artist to be celebrated in the NOCMA Hall of Fame.
To Learn more about the Northern Ontario Country Music Association, visit the official website.
