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By Chris Brown

July 28

‘A great night’: MacKenzie Porter hyped, but nervous, for Medicine Hat Stampede show

Jul 8, 2022 | 4:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The past 12 months have been filled with milestones, accolades and achievements for MacKenzie Porter.

She earned her first entertainer of the year nomination from the Canadian Country Music Association in September and sang on the iconic Grand Ole Opry stage in November.

She performed for 50,000 fans at CMA Fest in June and a few days later became the first Canadian female this century to earn five No. 1 singles at Canadian country radio.

Later this month, she’ll add to that ever-growing list on the nightshow grandstand stage at the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede. She says it’s one of her most important shows this year.

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“I talked to my mom yesterday on the phone and it’s the show that I’m going to be the most nervous for this summer because I feel like there’s like this pressure,” she says. “I want to make my family proud that night.”

Her desire to make people proud on July 28 actually extends beyond her family to the community that she says has been supporting her since before she had a record deal.

Porter has already racked up miles in the U.S. this spring and summer and has Ottawa Bluesfest and Country Thunder Saskatchewan on her calendar before Medicine Hat.

Porter is excited about the show she’s got and will be ready to roll with whatever the night brings, saying you never know what’s going to happen at a show.

“The other day we played Vegas and it was 102 degrees and our computer rig just like overheated so there always like random things that happen that you’re like ‘we can’t plan for that,'” she says. “But what I do know is that we are going to have so much fun and I have a show that I’m really proud of. And you know if little things go wrong here or there it doesn’t matter because we’re going to have like a great, a great night and I get to, you know, play in front of a lot of people that I know and love.”

She’ll also get a boost from being back in her home country. It had been more than two years since she played in Canada when she took the stage at Cavendish Beach Music Festival on Prince Edward Island on Thursday.

“I could not even believe the amount of people singing the songs,” she says. “When I don’t live here I don’t hear it on the radio here and I don’t get to experience the little things that show that people are hearing your music. So when I come home now it’s so much bigger than I thought it was.”

Tickets for Porter’s show are available from the Stampede website or the office.