Despite heat warnings MusicFest sells out again

By Keith and Heather Nicol

 

Cooling off in the Tsolum river

   Despite a special weather statement warning about the heat wave that has descended on Vancouver Island and most of B.C., MusicFest in Courtenay sold out its Saturday shows again this year. “We still have a few tickets for Sundays show so if your friends don’t have tickets they better act fast” we were told in the main concert bowl just before “Nice Horse” performed for their 2:15 pm show.  It was certainly hot at the Exhibition Grounds but if you managed to find shade and keep hydrated it was actually pretty easy to stay cool. If was helped by the amazing hosts who even came around with water misters that they would spray on your arms, legs and face if you wanted. And the 6 water wagons were kept busy delivering ice cold water to people around the concert grounds. One group I spoke to said they were going through six 5 gallon containers an hour in the peak of the afternoon.  Also if you really need to cool off you can go for a swim in the Tsolum River which we saw several people do. So hats off to the festival organizers for thinking of many ways to keep people cool. 

Mike Kerr (left) and Campbell Woods put on a fine show at the Woodland Stage

       We also stuck to shady sites for part of the day and really enjoyed Campbell Woods and Mike Kerr followed by Gretchen Peters on the Woodland stage. These are folk singers from Canada and the US respectively fit this small venue perfectly.  Since we enjoyed “The StepCrew” the night before we thought we would check out their workshop on step dancing held at another shady venue – The Crossroads.   They packed that venue and had many people up trying their hand or should I say feet at step dancing.  

     We then headed for the main stage to see Canada’s only all female Country/Rock band – “Nice Horse” from Calgary who put on a great show.  We will keep an eye out for that group in the future.  We then decided to take a break and head home to get ready for the concert bowl evening set which included a wide range of international music including “Darlingside” from the US, “Noreum Machi from Korea, “Passenger” from England, Ry Cooder from the US ending with Skakura S’Aida who was born in Brooklyn, raised in Switzerland but who now calls Canada home.  Can you get any more varied than that?  And we still have Sunday to come with Arlo Guthrie and many others. For more information see:  https://www.islandmusicfest.com/  See you there and stay cool.

     

Hats off to the organizers for having the water wagons to keep people hydrated

Passenger had the crowd up and singing with him