If you are a guitar player in Western Canada, then there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard of Central Alberta’s Gilmore Guitars. A relentless promoter of live music and everything guitar, master luthier David Gilmore’s beautiful instruments grace stages and studios with many well-known and many not so well-known musicians.

Gilmore builds beautiful looking, great sounding, and incredibly playable guitars. Pick one up, put your fingers on the fretboard, feel the playability, hit a string, and you instantly know you have a high-quality instrument in your hands.  And Matt Kooman creates beautiful video productions, in this case completely capturing David’s passion for his craft.

So if you love beautiful things, and appreciate the time, energy and passion it takes to create them, then this video will check off a couple of boxes for you.

A couple of notes about this video.

Firstly, the music features Adam Dobres from Salt Spring Islands, and is performed on a Gilmore SJ very similar to the guitar in the video.  Born in Canada and currently living on Pender Island in British Columbia, Adam has toured all over the world with acts ranging from folk ensemble The Ruth Moody Band to pop rock singer Toni Childs. In 2016, he stepped into the spotlight with his self-titled debut album, earning him a nomination for instrumental artist of the year in the West Coast Music Awards.

Recently Adam toured with the Ruth Moody Band opening for renowned former Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, including 8 nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Gilmore SJ

Video was shot and produced by Matt Kooman at Makerhouse Studio in Red Deer. Matthew was born and raised in Red Deer, AB. He began his career directing the docudrama _E for Everyone: The Mouse and The Elephant (2007). He set out around the world with 5 film makers to ask a series of nine questions about happiness. The film took them to the US, UK, Kenya, India, Thailand and Malaysia, and was filmed over a 3 month period. Kooman has since worked on short films, music videos, documentaries and features both as an Editor and Director.

David Gilmore is originally from Radville, Saskatchewan, (Canada). After an upbringing that included 18 years on the family farm, David hi-tailed it to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and enrolled at WABC radio school and started working as a radio announcer on January 11, 1981.  During that 30 year radio David spent in radio, he also toured relentlessly across the province, clearly addicted to guitar.

David started building guitars in 1995. Adrienne, his wife, graciously allowed him to attend a 10 week course at Timeless Instruments. There, under the tutelage of David Freeman he received his education and certificate in Lutherie. This course was only the beginning of a journey that is still happening.

“Gilmore Guitars” opened on a full time basis May 1st, 2011.

Here’s a longer (7 minute) version of the above video.

From The Red Deer Chamber of Commerce

2019 Business of the Year finalists announced

The Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce announced the 2019 Business of the Year finalists today for central Alberta’s most prestigious business awards. An independent adjudication committee comprised of local business leaders selected 15 finalists from more than 55 nominees in this annual celebration of business excellence.

In the 1-10 full-time equivalent employees category, the finalists are – KCB Cabinets & Renovations, Red Shed Malting, & Sorento Homes:

For the 11-20 full-time equivalent employees category the finalists are – Berry Architecture & Associates, Dance Magic & Messinger Meats Artisan Butcher & Bistro;

In the 21 or more full-time equivalent employees the finalists are – Budal Construction Group, DataCan Services Corp & Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria:

For the Young Entrepreneur category the finalists are – Salon Wild, Stevens and Company Charted Accountants & Tri Beauty Studio:

and the Non-Profit Award finalists are – Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre, The Lending Cupboard Society of Alberta & The Mustard Seed.

Businesses are nominated by the public, and chamber volunteers interview nominees to develop material for the adjudication committee. The committee then conducts a comprehensive evaluation to determine the finalists.  As an outcome of this process, the winners are also determined, however the results are sealed and embargoed until the awards ceremony.

Winners of the 2019 Business of the Year Awards will be announced at an annual ceremony, to be held at the Red Deer College Arts Centre, Wednesday, October 16, 2019.

Tickets for this exciting event are available online at www.reddeerchamber.com or at the Chamber office, 3017 Gaetz Avenue.

The Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce is a collaborative leader in building a vibrant community and fosters an environment where businesses can lead, be innovative, sustainable, and grow.Red Der