The Reklaws and Jade Eagleson highlight entertainment during 2022 return of Frontier Days

With a trio of grandstand performances to enjoy, and the return of a full slate of traditional events, Frontier Days 2022 will be back in a big way after a two year absence.

The line-up of events for Frontier Days 2022 on June 29 to July 2 was announced this past Thursday, with the Grandstand hosting three nights of entertainment as part of a gala return to live Frontier Days events.

“We were completely thrilled and excited to be able to announce the Frontier Days for 2022, because as you know for the past two years we could only do certain components of Frontier Days which were all virtual,” said Swift Current Ag & Ex Manager Tracey Stevenson. “We are happy to be back. We’re happy to be able to provide entertainment, the midway, the parade. It’s just a great event for the community that everybody can enjoy, and the whole Southwest.”

Frontier Days will be showcasing the talents of back-to-back Canadian Country Music Award Rising Star Award winners during their two concert evenings.

Multiple CCMA Award winners The Reklaws will open this year’s concert series on Thursday, June 30. The brother and sister duo of Jenna and Stuart Walker have been a hot commodity over the past few years since exploding onto the music scene. The 2018 CCMA Rising Star Award winners released the 2019 top selling Canadian single of the year “Long Live The Night”, a song which served as the theme song for CFL Thursday Night Football broadcasts. The song vaulted them into the spotlight and helped lift their debut EP “Feels Like That” to 2019 CCMA Album of the Year status. They also achieved the 2021 Top Selling Canadian Single of the Year for the platinum selling “Can’t Help Myself ” (Dean

Brody and The Recklaws), and in 2021 they earned the CCMA’S Group or Duo of the Year honours. Their 2020 single “Can’t Help Myself ” also topped the country music singles chart.

This concert will be opened by the highenergy female trio, The Heels.

Jade Eagleson, the CCMA 2019 Rising Star Award winner, will headline the grandstand stage on Friday, July 1. Since the release of his self-titled album in 2020, Eagleson boasts two Gold-certified singles “Count The Ways” and “Close”, along with one Platinum-certified single “Got Your Name On It”. He has topped the Canadian Country Radio charts with the singles “Lucky” and “All Night To Figure It Out”, plus his recent collaboration with Dean Brody, “More

Drinkin’ than Fishin’”, has also reached #1. The opening act for Eagleson will be River Town Saints.

“The grandstand is the main attraction of the Fair, and so we chose to put some concerts in there. We’ve all been missing concerts. We’ve all been missing activities and events, so we thought we’ll put in a couple of concerts, and do something different with the demotion derby, and provide entertainment for everybody all around.”

The grandstand will also be a noisy place on Saturday, July 2, when the “Appetite for Destruction” Demolition Derby will debut. Drivers from the Swift Current Stock Car Association will provide the entertainment by battling it out to see who is King of the Ring in the return of Demolition Derby action. To kick off the 5 p.m. event, the South West Antique Tractor Pulling Association will hold a competition to see whose equipment can pull the hardest in an Antique Tractor Pulling Competition. Following the Tractor Pulls and Demolition Derby there will be a cabaret in the beer gardens tent featuring Men Without Shame.

Rodeo also remains a featured attraction of Frontier Days, with the Canadian Cowboys’ Association in action during a trio of afternoon performances in the Magnus Newland Arena. The rodeo will run on June 30 at 5 p.m., on July 1 at 5 p.m., a slack go around at 9 a.m. on July 2, with a final performance on July 2 at 1 p.m.

“With the rodeo staying down at the Magnus Newland Arena that offered the opportunity to have three full nights in the grandstand, but also be able to provide our rodeo to everybody.”

The Magnus Newland Arena, which was the host arena for the 2021 Canadian Finals Rodeo, is being utilized during Frontier Days as a result of weather related damage a few years back.

“In 2019 with all of that rain that we incurred, the rodeo area dirt was damaged extensively. So in order for us to put the rodeo back into the grandstand it was going to be a cost of $20,000 before we event started. So in light of the COVID restrictions having us shut down, we just couldn’t afford to put the rodeo in the main grandstand. So we chose to work around that and put the rodeo down in the Magnus Newland Arena. It worked very well for the CCA Finals last year, and for our rodeo in the summer,” Stevenson explained.

The Magnus Newland Arena will also serve double duty as a venue for a trio of Heavy Horse events. There will be a Heavy Horse show on June 30 at 10 a.m., along with Heavy Horse pulls on July 1 at 1 p.m. and July 2 at 5 p.m.

As part of a full day of activities on July 1, there will be the traditional Frontier Days Parade at 10 a.m., the debut of a new Culture Stage in Hansen Park featuring performances by cultural groups from across the Southwest, a Texas Longhorn Show at 2 p.m. in the Cutting Arena, with the day wrapping up with the Living Sky Casino Fireworks Show at 11 p.m.

Other attractions included with the $5 gate admission charge will be the Extreme Dogs show, the Freddy Fusion Magic Show, entertainment by Joel & Jasper. “Canada’s Steer Whisperer”, Joel Lybbert, presents a unique trick roping show, accompanied by his friends, Jasper the Steer, Indy the Buffalo, and Flash the horse.

The iconic Beard Contest will also be returning this year. A beard growing contest was first held in 1938, and Swift Current became known as the “Bearded City” for these periodic contests. The 2022 edition of the Beard Contest will have a final judging in Hansen Park on July 2 with competition categories including longest, best groomed, and most unique. Contestants do not have to be clean shaven at the start of the competition.

“I think we have hit the home run on providing something for everyone,” Stevenson said of the 2022 line-up.

A ticket blitz for full Frontier Days Platinum Passes, along with discounted concert admissions, will be held at the Acres & Avenues Tradeshow at the Stockade on April 30 and May 1.