Mud Lake City celebrates decade of music and fun

Mud Lake City, “The Biggest Little City in the Rainy River Valley,” held its 10th-annual music fest on Sunday, and owners Betty and Wayne Salchert went all out to make this year’s celebration the best ever.
Situated south of Devlin, the recreated village was ready and waiting to receive it annual crowd of music lovers. The sound system, supplied by Brian Harris, alias “The Sound Man,” was all set up and ready to go, the “Eatery” was prepared to feed the usual hungry crowd and the golf carts were ready to shuttle people back and forth.
The weather couldn’t have been better as people began to arrive. The music began precisely at 11 a.m. with Rod Newman acting as emcee for the day’s entertainment.
“My job,” Newman pointed out, “is to keep the performers on schedule and to keep the program moving along.”
Once the music started it didn’t stop, at least for long, all day. Thirty-nine performers arrived from all over Rainy River District and from many other places, such as Red Lake, Vermilion Bay, Kenora, Dryden and even an imported couple from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Betty Salchert welcomed everyone to the 10th annual music fest, drawing attention to the location of the “Eatery,” the outhouses and the registration book, which she encouraged everyone to sign. Each person who signed the book received a ticket for the draws which took place during the day.
“We hope you enjoy the music today,” she offered.
“This is our 10th-annual music fest and it may be our last,” she added, much to the dismay of the crowd.
The performers included people of all ages, backgrounds and musical tastes. Some played piano while others played guitars, mandolins and fiddles. The musical styles included bluegrass, country, and several others. There was literally something for everyone at the annual music fest.
A couple called “Entirely Mac,” consisting of Dannette MacDonald and Wayne MacIntyre treated the audience to a set of East Coast favourites. Among their selections was “Workin’ Man,” made famous by Rita McNeil, about the men of the coal mines of Nova Scotia.
MacDonald explained that she wrote an extra verse to the song, in honour of her father who had worked in the mines and like many others died, of “Black Lung disease.” She may have sung the song many times, but the audience could hear the emotion in her voice as she began the final verse.
The one thing, that all of the performers had in common, was that they sang and played because they really love music. That’s what has made the Mud Lake City music fest such a success over the years and why people keep coming back year after year.
It may seem like a cliché, but the 10th-annual Mud Lake City music fest really was the best ever!
“Everyone figures that there were over 1,000 people,” Salchert enthused. “We sold over 600 burgers and the guys looking after the guest book said they saw lots of people that hadn’t signed.”
There was a contest to see who could guess the number of people that would sign the guest book. For a dollar, you could place a guess. Mark Busch from Devlin won the 50/50 draw for the most accurate guess.
“Everything went really well,” Salchert said. “The grounds were pretty neat and we sold out of T-shirts. We’ve had a request for a re-order, so if anyone wants one, they can give me a call at 486-3536.”
The Salcherts would like to thank the many people who volunteered their time to help prepare and run the 10th-annual music fest.
“I would really like to thank Wayne’s family from Winnipeg, Dryden, Fort Frances, Nova Scotia and Chile, as well as my son from B.C. who all came out to help.”
One observation by the organizers was that there were lots of people from Fort Frances and the United States but proportionally fewer local people in attendance. If you are in the group of people who have never been to a Mud Lake City music fest or you just haven’t been in a long time, you may have missed your last opportunity.
On the other hand, if you’ve enjoyed attending for the last 10 years or you would like to make next year your first visit to the Mud Lake City music fest, maybe you should let Wayne and Betty know how much you appreciate all of their hard work.