"Che is an absolute professional and one of the best Elvis impersonators in Australasia. It's so disappointing," she said.
She had made her venue BYO-only to make it affordable for patrons, but in an often-heard complaint made by numerous other event organisers in the region over the years, Walker bemoaned the tendency of people in Hawke's Bay to wait until the last minute to buy tickets to shows.
"I've got to pay some of these acts big fees. The problem is, people don't want to get tickets till the last minute and that's where the problem lies. If I don't get the pre-sales then it's too much of a gamble. So I am saying to people come and get your tickets two weeks before the show."
She had tried booking "all sorts of quality acts" to appeal to a wide audience and the saloon had hosted a number of successful gigs in its first 14 months, including an Eagles tribute show which drew 170 people and a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, which attracted 120.
But Walker warned if she continued having to cancel shows, performers would simply stop coming.
"This is really good music I'm bringing to Waipawa. But I cannot continue to do that unless people are going to support it."
After moving to Waipawa from Auckland when she hit retirement age three years ago to be closer to her son Gerard, who owns the award-winning Common Room bar in Hastings, she firstly revamped a large section of Waipawa's main retailing area into Penny Lane Emporium, before creating Cactus Jacks out the back of the building.
She was confident the lack of ticket sales had nothing to do with the cavernous venue itself, with featured a mock bordello, and was decorated with recycled and donated items depicting the 'Old West' and her own artwork.
"It's unique. People from Wellington love it, people from Auckland love it. [Visiting] Americans tell me how it's better than [venues] they have at home."
But faced with growing cancellations, Walker said the future of the saloon as a music venue was under a cloud.
"Too much work's been put into it to close it down, but I've already decided to take all of January off to have a re-think about it and I'll be looking at hiring it out more.
"I don't expect to make a lot of money. But I expect to cover my costs and for some of these shows, I am just not doing that."
Though "a little biased" her son Gerard, who has poured pints all over the world and this year won of the outstanding bar of the year title at the 2016 Hawke's Bay hospo awards, said his mother's venue was unique.
"You can see the heart and soul that's gone into it. It really is something that's out of the box, which you would struggle to find something like it anywhere in the world. It's right on their doorstep and for the people of Central Hawke's Bay, it's a classic case of either use it or lose it."
