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Everybody knows The Juno Awards are being held in Winnipeg for the first time this Sunday.
But here's something you probably didn't know: It could have happened more than 10 years ago.
Back in 1993, a committee of local music industry heavyweights, business types and politicos attempted to woo the show away from Toronto for the first time and stage it in the old arena -- only to see their hopes dashed amid accusations of back-room deals.
"We actually pioneered the idea of holding it in an arena," said a well-known member of the city's music industry who was close to the effort and agreed to speak only if we didn't print his name.
"They had never done that before. We wanted to take it back to the people and really create a festival. We knew this would create quite a scene in Winnipeg."
The bid committee even had a familiar ace-in-the-hole: Kelvin High School alumni and sometime guitar shredder Neil Young.
"Our pitch was that we could land Neil Young. We were flatly told by the head of CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) at the time that if we could land Neil Young we could score the Junos. Well, we scored Neil, he agreed to come."
After jumping through a number of bureaucratic hoops and negotiations with broadcaster CBC, CARAS granted Winnipeg conditional approval to host the 1995 Junos. But high-fives gave way to cries of betrayal when CARAS announced on Good Friday, 1994, that it was rescinding the agreement.
CARAS officials said the Winnipeg proposal was financially unsound. But local committee members blamed backroom dealers close to CARAS who had a vested financial interest in keeping the show in Toronto.
In 1995, the success of bands like the Crash Test Dummies was shining an international spotlight on the Winnipeg music scene. Ironically, now that the show is being held in Winnipeg, the local music scene doesn't have quite as high a profile, our tipster claims.
"It's great that they are doing it now but it doesn't have the integrity that it would have had 10 years ago."