After years in the works and several aborted openings, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame will finally open in Merritt this summer.

The Merritt Walk of Stars, National Music Centre, and Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) announced their joint agreement for the hall at the Walk of Stars Gala Saturday.

"There's a lot of work, but we're taking it to a new level," said Walk of Stars president Ron Sanders during the gala, a fundraiser concert and dinner at the Merritt Civic Centre.

Andrew Mosker, the president and CEO of the Cantos Music Foundation, joined Sanders onstage for the announcement. Cantos is the group behind the $75-million National Music Centre project in Calgary.

WOS director Chris Langhaug read a statement on behalf of CCMA executive director Don Green.
The statement explained how Cantos and the Walk of Stars would share responsibility for the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame plaques and an attached memorabilia collection.

"Working with the Merritt Walk of Stars organization, a dedicated Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame will open this summer in the heart of the town. All inductee plaques, past, present and future, will take their rightful place on these walls. Throughout the year, a rotating collection of Canadian country music memorabilia will also be available for viewing at this location."

In 2008, the CCMA moved brass plaques honouring Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees from Calgary to Merritt. The CCMA handed over control of the plaques to the Walk of Stars under contract.

However, Cantos inherited the rights to the name "Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame" and artist memorabilia from the estate of producer Gary Buck.

Buck, who died in 2003, had started a country hall of fame that merged with the CCMA's own Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour in 1999. After Buck's estate was settled in 2009, the CCMA kept the plaques but returned to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour name.

Sanders said in November 2009 that the Walk of Stars planned to open the Hall of Honour in spring 2010. The scheduled opening has since been pushed back repeatedly because the Walk of Stars was unable to reach a deal with the CCMA and Cantos.

"We've had some stumbles along the way. To avoid legal action, we chose not to open," Sanders said at the gala Saturday. "This is a real good news, bad news story. We've lost a lot of credibility with our sponsors and our funding agencies."

Reading from the CCMA's message, Langhaug said, "We look forward to visiting the CCMA Hall of Fame in Merritt."

The statement went on to explain that the CCMA would continue to select inductees and the group would return to the Hall of Fame name.

"All past Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour and/or Hall of Fame inductees will once again be brought together in one program."

The National Music Centre in Calgary will house the bulk of Buck's memorabilia as well as other artifacts from Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees and Canadian musical memorabilia in general. The National Music Centre is scheduled to open in 2014.

"The Canadian country music story will be told within this centre through the display of Gary Buck's collection of memorabilia and other such compilations, including the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Recording Arts and Sciences," read the CCMA statement.

Mosker said Saturday that Cantos fully supports the deal.

"On behalf of our organization, we can't be happier. We don't want to reinvent the wheel. We want to help organizations in Canada that believe in country music. This isn't about beating other people."