TORONTO — Canada’s Walk of Fame is giving Stompin’ Tom Connors a permanent star near his boyhood home in Skinners Pond, P.E.I.

The late musician, whose distinctly Canadian ditties include “Bud the Spud,” “The Hockey Song” and “Sudbury Saturday Night,” will be honoured at a public event at the Stompin’ Tom Centre on Canada Day.

He’s among the first group of influential Canadians to receive a star outside the province of Ontario.

The move comes as Walk of Fame organizers continue to expand the “hometown star” initiative, which launched earlier this year. The goal is to recognize some of the country’s most successful people close to where they grew up.

Each recipient receives a plaque mounted at a significant location of either their choice, or their families, if they’re deceased.

Environmentalist David Suzuki was the first to get a hometown star at CBC’s Vancouver broadcast centre in March. Organizers say human rights trailblazer Viola Desmond will also get a posthumous honour, set for June 29 at the Halifax Ferry Terminal.

Connors, who died in 2013 of kidney failure, was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame last year.

 

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The Canadian Press

Filed under: Stompin' Tom Connors, Walk of Fame