shania.funurl.com

Fans come on over

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The Daily Press
August 5, 2009
By Arron Pickard

About 30 Twainiacs will converge on the City with the Heart of Gold Thursday for the seventh-annual Shania Twain Fan Convention.

Some arrived early yesterday, while the remainder are expected to roll in sometime today, said Shania Twain Centre manager Tracy Hautanen. Starting tomorrow, participants will have a full schedule of events to keep them occupied until the farewell breakfast on Sunday.

“We’re taking them to city hall to meet the mayor and then to CTV so see where Shania used to do interviews,” Hautanen said.

Participants will also spend a day at a boy scout camp to showcase Timmins’ natural bounty, she said.

“We know that Shania loves the outdoors, so we thought that would be a good tie in. Shania went to summer camp, so we’re taking them to summer camp. We’re going to roast hot dogs around the camp fire, have a scavenger hunt and a nature walk.”

On Saturday, Hautanen said, a few special guests will be attending the event, people from Shania’s past who are going to chat with the fans. Other events include an awards ceremony and karaoke and, of course, the official visit of the Shania Twain Centre.

“There is a lot of planning involved with this event because we have a lot of people who come year after year and we need to make sure we’re doing something different. There always needs to be a tie in with Shania Twain and we try to make sure it’s a lot of fun. I think we’re doing something right because they keep coming back.”

Some regular fans have dropped out of this year’s convention, she said, but sent regrets that they could not attend due to the economy.

“Our numbers are low but the economy certainly isn’t helping much. Those who are coming are pulling out all the stops to be here. We have received quite a few e-mails from people who aren’t able to attend sending their well wishes.”

Fans have ventured from all over the globe, coming from as far away as the Netherlands and England. Quite a few of the participants reside in the U.S., Hautanen said. The first couple of years, fans were coming to Timmins to see the Shania Twain Centre. Now, they’re coming to see friends they’ve made through this event.

Betsy Perry of North Carolina has been participating in the convention since the first year. She said all convention participants have made lasting friendships throughout the years and they keep in touch on a regular basis.

“(The convention) is like a family reunion,” Perry told The Daily Press. “It’s like coming home. Tracy does such a wonderful job. We don’t even need a lot of entertainment, we just like being together and sharing this experience.”

Perry was a relatively new Shania Twain fan when she first attended the convention. She had seen three of Shania’s concerts when she heard about the convention.

This year, she drove the long distance from North Carolina to Timmins. She left Saturday morning with Debbie Smith of California and drove to New York where they picked up Chris Backa. They then drove to Niagara Falls and then to Timmins.

“We made it a three-day trip,” she said. “We’ve also travelled by plane, train and bus. We enjoy being able to get to see the city and the surrounding area. We went to the Mattagami First Nation one year, it was a real delight to see that, and we’ve been to see the polar bears in Cochrane.

Adding to the overall experience for the fans, she said, is getting to meet the people in Timmins, who are “so welcoming and warm.”

Hautanen said she has come to look forward to seeing the fans every year and hearing stories about their adventures.

“It’s extremely nice to feel their loyalty to the Shania Twain Centre, it’s overwhelming,” Hautanen said.

As for having Shania Twain attend, it would be difficult to have the types of events the convention is known for if Shania were to attend, Hautanen said. Her presence would draw thousands upon thousands of people and media and the centre wouldn’t be able to take them all on a bus and visit places Shania frequented.

“It would be nice to have her here because the numbers would be huge, but the camaraderie that has been built over the past seven years wouldn’t be possible.”

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