Spring 1974 was a memorable season for many Selkirk residents with many painstakingly gathering in the Winnipeg Arena to watch the Selkirk Steelers win the Centennial Cup, but for Mary Shumilak (Grabowski)–– it was the experience of being one of the 100 audience members for April Wine’s concert in Selkirk.
A Lively Idea
On March 19, 1974, Shumilak had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with what she described as an “up close, personal, in arms reach private concert” with rising Canadian band, April Wine. April Wine –– led by lead singer Myles Goodwyn at the time –– made an exclusive stop on their tour to perform in the gymnasium of the Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School for a graduation fundraiser. Shumilak, who was on the Student Representative Council (SRC) and grad chairman at the time, organized to perform in the gym. She was head over heels excited and knew the fundraiser would be a success under one condition–– the Selkirk Steelers didn’t qualify for the Centennial Cup finals.
“You would have been crazy not to go for the idea of having April Wine perform in Selkirk,” she said. “There was such potential for it and it just seemed so perfect because we had everything they needed.”
Once she and fellow SRC members gained teacher approval, they contacted April Wine’s manager, signed the extremely detailed multi-page contract, and paid the $3,500 fee with funds the school division had allotted for graduation decorations with profits from the school drink machine.
“We weren’t really concerned that we were using all the funds because we knew when we brought in April Wine it would bring a huge profit for us,” Shumilak added.
A Competitive Turn
SRC began selling tickets for $10 to students, staff and community members; everything was going as planned. She, however, was in for a surprise when the Steelers did in fact win their way into the Centennial Cup finals.
“I just thought, ‘What are the odds of that? Because they have never gone that far before.’ When they moved the game from the Selkirk Barn to the Winnipeg Arena, the entire town of Selkirk drained into the Winnipeg Arena to watch this.”
Ticket sales began to dwindle for Selkirk’s April Wine Concert and the SRC was hoping they could pull off a miracle to somehow bring more people to the concert. Come concert day, only 100 people showed up, opting to sit directly on the gym floor instead of going through the efforts to set up the bleachers. April Wine put on a full concert despite the small crowd.
“It was absolutely wonderful and if you were there, you would never forget that experience.”
Shumilak noted April Wine performed many of their hit songs: Drop Your Guns, Lady Run, Lady Hide, Fast Train, Believe in Me, and I’m on Fire for You Baby, just to name a few. Their performance came just before they hit peak popularity, selling out the Winnipeg Arena six months later for the Electric Adventure tour. In the 80s, they had 21 hits on the Top 40 chart and had a double platinum album.
“The whole concert just felt like a private party. They were singing hits we had on our records at home–– it was just surreal.”
Amidst the party, Shumilak said she had an underlying worry of how they were going to pay for the concert since they fell a couple thousand short of their goal.
Expensive Consequences
She later met with the Director of Education, her principal, and the school division to explain what happened and how their fundraiser went so wrong.
“Ultimately, it was a matter of poor timing and things not aligning,” she explained. “It was the strange coincidence that the Steelers won, and the community spirit for the Steelers was overwhelming and superseded the excitement for the concert… it was a disaster for us trying to have a concert and it was a tough lesson for a young person to have that kind of failure.”
The school and school division ended paying the fee, under the condition they had no more budget for any decorations for grad. From that point, everything they organized had to be done on a cost recovery basis.
“I had to figure out how to organize graduation with nothing,” Shumilak added.
She ended up hand making the decorations and the April Wine performance became a small moment of school history.
Sources
History of April Wine, April Wine
Telephone interview with Mary Shumilak, Oct. 15, 2025
