By Andrea Nicholl
A moment was dedicated to the memory of a mother and friend this past weekend, commemorating the life of the late Donna Moore.
An emotional minute of silence and tribute to the mother of two was held at Big Valley Jamboree, the festival turned tragedy late last summer.
“Big Valley’s tribute was pretty good,” said Kurt Price, a friend of Moore’s. “We certainly went to find out what the tribute was going to be like (and) we wanted to see exactly where Donna died, I think that was important for her kids too.”
Price joined Moore’s two boys Michael (Tebbe) and Dylan (Scarborough Moore) at Saturday’s tribute, finding some closure and better understanding to the turn of events that took the life of their mother and friend.
Last year’s Jamboree was overshadowed by tragedy when wicked weather and gusty winds caused the collapse of the main stage, ultimately killing Moore and injuring 75 others.
“It was really important to see where she passed away. After you’ve seen it, it’s a lot easier to imagine how that wind came up and how that stage went down,” said Price. “It was very emotional for the family to be there.”
Organizers of the Big Valley Jamboree coordinated a tribute to the memory of Moore on Saturday afternoon, remembering the life of a mother, friend and daughter with a moment of dedicated silence and a fiddle performance of “Amazing Grace” played by Tyler Vollrath.
A pink dove on the Jamboree’s banner was also dedicated to the memory of the Lloydminster resident.
“You could tell the people that were there were very emotional at the time when they did the moment of silence, but to be honest it seemed kind of hurried,” said Price.
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“I know Mike was a little disappointed that they talked about his mom being a country music fan but they didn’t talk about her being a mother. He was glad they did it, but for the most part I think he was a little more impressed with what Kevin Costner did and said to him back stage.”
Kevin Costner, who was at Big Valley last year when the accident occurred, put together his own memorial for Moore’s friends and family, speaking through raw emotion and dedicating a song in her honour at the show.
“Kevin was very genuine, down to earth and wanted to meet the boys afterwards,” said Price. “ (His) tribute was more emotional. He talked about being alone somewhere dying and not having family around you- that’s pretty much the way Donna’s friends and Donna’s family thought of her- so when he sang a song about the angels coming down to comfort her and to comfort anyone who dies alone, without their family around,  that was very emotional.”