Ron Sanders can’t play a lick of guitar and admittedly doesn’t sing well, but his influence on making the City of Merritt the country music capital of Canada is immense and he received a very special honour for his many contributions this past weekend in Vancouver.

Sanders was officially inducted into the Builders Category at the British Columbia Country Music Hall of Fame this past Sunday at a special presentation in Langley.

“I just found out about a month ago and it came as a complete surprise, but a very pleasant one,” said a humble Sanders in an interview at the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame late last week. “When the lady who called me told me the news, I told her I wasn’t sure if I should qualify, but she said the entire board approved the nomination unanimously, so I graciously accepted.”

Sanders has been at the forefront of the country music scene in Merritt for most of his adult life.

When he hasn’t been running his successful construction company, Sanders and Company, he’s dedicated literally tens of thousands of hours to various programs, committees, festivals and organizations.

“I grew up around country music, and I certainly knew all the songs and old artists, but I couldn’t play and most people wouldn’t want to hear me sing,” said Sanders. “I guess my first serious involvement was helping set up the original Merritt Mountain Music Festival … I was involved in that from day one.

“The entrance to the original site was located right near to some property I own and I got really involved with the Merritt Mountain Festival during its entire run of more than 20 years.”

In the early days of that festival, organizers came up with the idea of having the headline artists donate hand prints to commemorate their participation in the festival, said Sanders.

After about a decade of collecting the handprints of artists, there was really no place or plan of what to do with them, he said.

“One day, the local chamber of commerce contacted me and said they wanted to do something with them and maybe come up with a plan to bring them downtown,” said Sanders.

It took him roughly 18 months to collect the dozens of handprints and a plan was hatched to encase them in sidewalks throughout the downtown core, he said.

A community board of directors was formed and they agreed to install about 30 of these handprints in sidewalks downtown, however, that didn’t work out well as several local residents fell and slipped after stepping on them that first winter, he recalled.

The board then decided to bring in local log home builder John Boyes, who helped come up with a plan to build stands that could be erected on local buildings, and more than 75 of those handprints are now on display across the city, he said.

Sanders played a central role in the country music mural program that has seen murals of famous country artists who have performed in Merritt erected across the city.

Sanders also became heavily involved over the years in working with artists, agents and industry insiders, and he became a key player when the idea of having Merritt become home to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame was first discussed.

Sanders recalled it took a three-year legal battle to have the Hall of Fame moved from Calgary to Merritt.

The opening of the Hall of Fame more than five years ago was one of his proudest moments as a longtime resident and country music fan, said Sanders.

Sanders is confident the Hall of Fame will only grow and attract more people to Merritt in future years.

“The potential of this place hasn’t come close to being realized yet,” he said. “We’re still working on the facility and we’ve got a lot of work to do to get it to where it needs to be.”

Having a full-time staff member to market and promote the Hall of Fame across the province and across Canada would be a giant step forward and he and the local Canadian Country Music Heritage Society are trying to secure funding to make this happen, he said.

Sanders said he’s already working in tandem with Kenny Hess, the organizer of the Rockin’ River Fest, set to return for a second year to Merritt in late July, and he hopes this new festival can become a mainstay for years to come.

Sanders brought his wife Shelley, son Adam, daughter Rachael and one grandchild, as well as several good friends from Merritt, to Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

When asked what his finest memories are from more than four decades of working in the country music industry, Sanders said his close association with artists and industry members stands out.

“I’m proud of the fact that I can call up virtually any artist I’ve ever worked with and they have no problem picking up the phone and talking to me,” he said. “I also have great connections with industry people and have never made enemies in the business.

“I guess that’s what I’m most proud of.”