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St. John's is going full yee-haw for country music

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Your cowboy boots are gonna get a workout, b'y!

Whaddya at, b'y — this is St. John's, oldest city in North America, and we're still here. Let's go. So, you know how everyone's always talkin' about the latest trends, what's hot, what's not? Well, I'll tell ya one thing, b'y, I didn't see *this* one comin' over Signal Hill. Turns out, St. John's is goin' full-on yee-haw, and I'm not talkin' about a screetch-in gone wild. Cowboy boots are flyin' off the shelves here in da city, all thanks to a big ol' boom in country music's popularity.

First Western Boutique, down there on Kenmount Road, they've been kitting out line dancers since '99, eh? But the demand for boots, hats, and all da fixin's has just exploded lately. It's not just the old crowd either, b'y. Young people, them ones who usually hang out on George Street dancin' to whatever's on the radio, they're all gettin' into it. It's wild to think that a bit of Garth Brooks or Luke Combs can turn St. John's into a little slice of Nashville, but here we are. It just goes to show ya, you never know what's gonna catch on, do ya?

### What This Means for St. John's

* **Unexpected Trend:** It's a genuine surprise to see a full-blown country and western fashion wave hit St. John's, a city more known for its traditional music and vibrant pub scene.

* **Local Business Boost:** First Western Boutique, a long-standing local shop, is seeing a significant increase in sales, proving that even niche businesses can thrive on new trends.

* **Cultural Shift:** This might signal a subtle shift in local entertainment preferences, or at least an expansion, with country music finding a bigger audience beyond its traditional fan base.

I'll tell ya, b'y, it's a laugh to imagine all these new boots clompin' around da cobblestones of Water Street, or even out on the East Coast Trail (maybe not da best footwear for da trails, mind you!). But if it means a local business is doin' well, and folks are havin' a grand time, then I'm all for it. Maybe next we'll all be ridin' horses up to Cape Spear, eh? Whaddya at, indeed.

Deirdre Molloy-Waddleton, MiTL Sports Desk, St. John's.

The lads on da Morning Wire chat about all da mad things happenin' 'round da bay, catch 'em live at mornings.live.

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The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →