Performing a show at the Yorkton Summer Fair was something like a homecoming for Bif Naked.
The Juno-winning, multi-platinum-album rock star spent two years living down the road in Dauphin, Manitoba in her early teens after moving to Canada from Kentucky with her family.
"We would periodically go to Yorkton, whether it was for a skating trip or a field trip from school or even just to hit the Yorkton mall for a day," says Bif Naked, who was known at the time as Beth Torbert.
Remembering those trips to the mall, Bif thanked the people of Yorkton at her July 4 show for "contributing to her delinquency."
"I'm an extremely sentimental girl," she told Yorkton This Week in an interview afterwards. "I think sometimes as a lyricist and as a writer you have to be somewhat nostalgic, and I definitely have such a great affection for my history and my roots. And the prairies, particularly that area of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, are a big part of who I am."
The musician, actor, and poet still draws on her experiences from those years. She is currently working on a book that has "a lot to do" with her childhood memories on the Canadian prairies and elsewhere.
Bif has a fondness for performing in settings like the Yorkton Exhibition, as well.
"What I really enjoy about summer fairs is basically just the variety of audience age. I really enjoy the opportunity to perform in front of five-year-olds to eighty-year-olds. It's a rare and special chance."
Despite the show's midweek scheduling, the grandstand was packed on Wednesday night.
Bif Naked hopes to perform again in Yorkton this fall. She plans to release an acoustic album by Christmas, and is scheduling an acoustic tour to go with it.
"I look forward to coming back. I love Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and it does give me an opportunity to reconnect with my family, too."
