MINDEMOYA—Carol Gilmore and her bandmates are familiar sights entertaining at local nursing homes. In fact, the popular Island entertainer has been singing since she was five. This year, Ms. Gilmore will be inducted into the ranks of The Great Northern Opry by the Northern Ontario Country Music Association.
“I never expected anything like this,” said Ms. Gilmore when approached about the honour by The Expositor. “I thought it was just for people who made their living from playing music.”
Ms. Gilmore and her current bandmates are not in it for the money, or the fame for that matter.
“I was in the church choir when I was about five, then school plays and I was in just about every musical in high school,” she laughed. “About nine years ago I got this little band together and we play at nursing homes in Little Current, Gore Bay and Espanola, usually one day a month. Lately, we have also been playing at Milltown Homes in Espanola.”
Ms. Gilmore said that she has always enjoyed singing and entertaining folks. “Why do we do it? Just because we enjoy doing it,” she said. “We don’t do it expecting any kind of payment or reward. I like to help people.”
But there are plenty of rewards, nonetheless. “When you see some of these folks’ faces as you start to sing an old Gospel tune or golden oldie, they just brighten right up,” she said. “Music is a universal language.”
Sorry Taylor Swift, this is country music country.
“We do all country and Gospel,” said Ms. Gilmore.
The singer is also a seamstress of some note, creating many of the costumes worn during Manitoulin Secondary School musicals.
“It isn’t all just music and entertaining,” noted Northern Ontario Country Music Association rep Ben Lentir (who also organizes the upcoming Bluegrass in the Country Festival). “Carol has been organizing entertainment at the Providence Bay Fair for years and is a big part of country music here on the Island. She has always been a big supporter of NOCMA and I don’t think she has missed one of the bus trips to the Sault since they started.”
Mr. Lentir notes that there are only a handful of tickets left for the November bus trip to the NOCMA Awards evening in Sault Ste. Marie left (so if you are planning to go you had better get on it soon).
A celebration of Ms. Gilmore’s induction into the Northern Ontario Country Music Association’s Great Northern Opry takes place 7 pm on Saturday, June 1 at the Providence Bay Hall, 11 Muchmore Street in Providence Bay. Many of Ms. Gilmore’s Great Northern Opry compatriots will be on hand to entertain.
The induction itself will take place on the weekend of November 1-3 during the Northern Ontario Country Music Awards Weekend.
For tickets for the June 1 show at the Providence Bay Hall or more details call Ben or Crystal Lentir at 705-210-0807.
