A local live music tradition for the last eight-plus years has come to an end, as Thompson has been dropped from the Home Routes Borealis Trail house concert circuit due to small crowds.
"Due to the continued lack of audience participation Home Routes has decided to drop Thompson from Borealis Trail," said Larry Hall, host of the concerts since September 2016, on the Home Routes House Concerts Thompson Borealis Trail Facebook group page Oct. 10. "This will result in one less entertainment option in town. We are saddened by this and other cultural losses in recent years."
Hall took over hosting duties from Linda Toews, who served as host for the 2015-16 season after previous hosts Tim and Jean Cameron, who held the concerts in their home since 2012, left town. Before the Camerons became the hosts, the concerts had been held in the basement of the Thompson Public Library since first arriving in Thompson in September 2009.
Hosts provided meals and a place to sleep for performers, who received all the money from the sales of tickets, which were $20 apiece for the last several years.
Hall said on Facebook that the shows normally attract 30 or more people in some of the other communities on the tour, which include Flin Flon, Snow Lake, The Pas and Cranberry Portage, but had a hard time cracking 15 in Thompson.
