09-02-22 Peak Music Fest night 1
Up and off to the office to run a payroll and take care of a couple clients before it was off to set up the site for Peak Music Fest 2022 at Rotary Park. My neighbour Jessie met me at the office with his truck to pick up the two fabulous tents leant to us by Community Foundation of the Kootenay Rockies.
We all spent from 11:30 on setting up the whole site. We usually only use the front half of the park for Summer Sounds but we had everything set up beautifully using the whole area this time. At the back in the shade was our food truck vendor site with a bunch of picnic tables, one large area was used for Cranbrook Arts Council who had wood stacking chairs that had our logo on the backs and then people could donate and paint a chair to take home. Kya Dubois who designed our poster this year had a booth where she demonstrated her talent continuing to work on a painting she has been doing at our events all summer. The beer garden was in a new location allowing more people to see everything and opened up the shade under the big trees for more viewers who bring their lawn chairs and blankets. Key City Theatre was there to share their upcoming season as well.
Once I was done helping with set up I went to have something to eat and then stopped at home to change my shirt and get ready to Emcee the event.
The opening act was the Ka Kin Nana Drum Group, consisting of young cousins from our local First Nation, they were a fabulous start to the Festival. They taught me how to say their name correctly and put on a lovely show of the traditional drumming of their ancestors. It was very well received.
Next up was Doggone Brothers, a duo of Michael Hepher and Clayton Parsons. They were so much fun, guitar and banjo, old school uplifting music from these young men.
Alderbash was next, they got people out of their seats and moving to the music. It was so much fun to see all the young families out and so many kids dancing.
Garuda was very unusual, with their Indian style Sitar music and curious instruments. It was interesting to hear Ferdy playing something unique like this.
The night was wrapped up by Leather Apron Revival who brought their rock and roll to the stage leaving everyone feeling good.
In between acts, Rocky Mountain Martial Arts put on demonstrations that drew the crowd in. Josh Sutherland is a 16 year old from Cranbrook heading to the world kickboxing competition in Wales next month and the crowd loved him. I was so proud of Guru Joel and the crew and am so happy they agreed when I suggested they do this.
Another special booth was Ankors who are a local group specializing in harm reduction. They offered drug testing and Naloxone training. So great to have a safety program and to have them there to help take away the stigma.
I have to say, I had a fabulous day. I am exhausted and couldn’t seem to drink enough water. The smoke really rolled in and my lips were burning even though I drank Litres of water. The feedback was overwhelming. Seems I do pretty great as an emcee and being that person, I also had tourists and locals alike come up to tell be how much they were enjoying it all. I am proud of our little group of volunteers for putting this on.
At the end of the night, my friend Bear came with his friend Mike to be our paid overnight security. I was stunned to hear about the changes in Bear’s life. He is in his early 30s, has 5 kids with another one due any time and in July with no notice, his older brother died and he has custody of his 5 kids as well! That is a lot to take on. Apparently his bother had cancer but didn’t tell the family. I can’t even imagine going from 5 kids to 11 in a matter of months. He is making a plan to buy a property out of town and build to fit them all. It makes me glad I thought to reach out to offer him the job for tonight. If anyone needed a Go Fund Me, it’s him.
I have an Airbnb guest tonight and I just left the door open and the lights on, texted her to make herself at home and let her be. She has kept me in the loop and seems to have been fine. I missed seeing her tonight and am not sure I will in the morning which will be a first for me. She seems to have been comfortable with it all though.
The grandsons all showed up showed up down there tonight as well. Will was first and took great pride in being the Water Boy, emptying two full bottles as he went around with the cart. Sawyer and Lukas also showed up and then Gene, with many hugs to share. Later Gene and Lukas brought down their newest home stay student who arrived tonight as well. It was so great to see them all.
Must sleep, tomorrow is going to be very full! 7 acts!!!
triumphgal 