Country singer Reba McEntire is filming in Merritt and delighting music fans and residents alike

Many music fans and residents of Merritt, BC are excited to see American country singer and actress Reba McEntire filming in their neighborhood this week.

McEntire plays the lead role in a film tentatively titled The Hammer which is expected to be released this year.

According to the production team, McEntire and his fellow actors worked at several locations along Quilchena Ave. in Merritt, including hotels and gas stations.

McEntire, 67, is no stranger to the BRITISH STATE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA city, which is considered the capital of country music in Canada, having performed at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival in 2007.

A mural of McEntire on Quilchena Avenue is one of more than 20 in the city featuring country music stars.

Kamloops resident Mahkayla Spahan-Charlie says she and her family are huge fans of McEntire and she was excited to see the singer filming earlier this week.

“I finally got to see her up close and thought, ‘Hey, that’s cool!'” she said, adding that she had asked for a photo with McEntire to show her grandmother, who always played McEntire’s music at home – which Spahan-Charlie grew up with.

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Abdulla Daiani, the film’s location manager, says the producers considered Kamloops as a filming location but ultimately chose Merritt because they wanted “the look of the west side of the United States.”

“We found the right locations there,” said Daiani.

“We rented a private property next to the Moon Shadows RV Campground and made it one of our sets…we shot the Coldwater Hotel and the Quilchena Hotel, this very old, very beautiful hotel.”

Daiani says McEntire is happy to return to Merritt after two years of pandemic.

Susan Roline, director of the Canadian Society of Country Music and Heritage, says McEntire’s return helps revive Merritt’s country music spirit and sense of community.

“We’ve all been isolating and staying at home, and people have lost contact with other people. Anything we can do in a community to bring people back into the community and restore that contact is important,” Roline said.