A Sturgeon County golf club is expanding its winter recreational events with plans to bring live entertainment to the area.
The Cattail Crossing Golf and Winter Club, formerly Hunters Green Golf Club, has a newly renovated 10,000-square-foot clubhouse, home to Out of Bounds Restaurant.
Edmonton businessman Eddy Akl, along with four partners, Gord Schamehorn, Sergio Torres, and Sturgeon County residents Mark Beck, and Casey Beckton, purchased the 18-hole golf course in November 2020.
After extensive renovations, they redesigned the 250-person restaurant and banquet hall with a staging area.
“We saw an opportunity to bring live entertainment [to Sturgeon County]. No one else was offering. ... If it could be family entertainment, we felt we have the perfect venue. We just want to bring something new and exciting,” said Akl.
Starting Saturday, Nov. 20, the club kicks off with the Cattail Concert Series, featuring acoustic music, storytelling, and comedy. Launching the series are three of the region’s most in-demand country recording artists: 10-time Alberta Country Music Association Award-winner Dan Davidson, Juno Award-winning Clayton Bellamy from The Road Hammers, and national rising star Hailey Benedict.
“This is the kind of thing Clayton and I do together — share in each other’s career. We sing songs, tell stories, and talk about how we wrote the songs, where they come from, and we tell stories from the road. It’s a peek behind the curtain. It will have a Blue Bird Café vibe. We want to make it like a one-on-one conversation,” Davidson said.
The twosome first met in 2016 when Davidson, former lead singer for rock band Tupelo Honey, was dipping his toes into country music.
“I didn’t know anyone in town. I randomly called him. I got his name from a shared publisher. We didn’t know each other, but he said, ‘Sure, come on over.’ In one day, we wrote Barn Burner and Found.” Both songs turned into major hits for the St. Albert singer-songwriter.
The duo became fast friends, something that doesn’t always happen between co-writers.
“He’s the same type of guy as me and I really related to him. He’s a dad with two kids like me. I really admire his work ethic. Although he’s a true-blue country boy who grew up on a cattle ranch, and I grew up in the city, we get along, and now he’s one of my best friends,” Davidson said.
“We’re lucky we get to do what we love and have found a way of making a living at it.”
Opening for the duo is Benedict. At the moment, Benedict is riding a national wave of recognition as her song Wanted You To hit number 35 on the Canadian country charts.
“There’s a fire I see in her I don’t always see in young artists,” said Davidson. “I think she’s gonna keep going. She’s gonna get lots of great festivals next summer, and pretty soon she’s going to have a booking agent. She’s got that thing that’s hard to teach.”
Benedict has also been selected as the next iHeart Radio Future Star. This means her latest single, Wanted You To, will be featured on all iHeart Pure Country stations across Canada.
The concert runs Nov. 20 from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Cattail Crossing is at 24427 Township Road, 542 Lancaster Park. Tickets start at $33.45 and are available at www.cattailconcertseries.com.
