The music was loud, the crowds were big and the people were happy as they danced along to three-days worth of music at this year鈥檚 Jasper Folk Music Festival, Sept. 9-11.
The festival鈥檚 organizers are still crunching the official numbers, but executive director Cristin Murphy said by all accounts it was another successful year, adding that while in-town tickets sales were lower than last year, online sales were up.
鈥淎ll things considered weather-wise鈥擨 think we did really well. There were lots of people braving the cold and the rain to stick around,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淚 think our line-up really spoke for itself and people were pleased with the variety of music we had to offer.鈥�
This year鈥檚 festival had a slew of acts from across North America including California鈥檚 The Brevet, Halifax鈥檚 Hillsburn and Toronto鈥檚 Birds of Bellwoods.
鈥淭hese were some of the bands that we had picked through our online application process and we had never seen some of them play live so sometimes you never know how that鈥檚 going to go, but it all worked out and people seemed pretty impressed.鈥�
According to Murphy, a crowd favourite this year was Saturday night鈥檚 headlining act Delhi 2 Dublin.
鈥淭here was so much buzz around them and people even started crowd surfing when they played,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淭he band put an end to that pretty quickly because it was getting a little dangerous, but for us we were like wow there鈥檚 crowd surfing happening at our little festival鈥攊t was kind of exciting.鈥�
As organizers look to the future, Murphy said they might have to re-think their security strategy, adding that numerous people were caught sneaking into this year鈥檚 affair.
鈥淯nfortunately most of them were locals,鈥� Murphy said about the people who were caught. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a little disheartening鈥攖his festival isn鈥檛 a given and it won鈥檛 continue forever if we don鈥檛 get support.
It costs money to bring bands of this caliber into town.鈥�
If the situation isn鈥檛 rectified, Murphy said the festival will have to switch from volunteer security teams to hired help, which will increase ticket prices.
鈥淚ncreased fees aren鈥檛 a win for anybody,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淭hat being said I don鈥檛 want that to cloud the fact that we know we have amazing local support鈥攍ocals are out there dancing and having fun and really soaking up the atmosphere.鈥�
Murphy also added that the location for next year鈥檚 festival is unknown. Since its resurrection in 2013, the festival has been held at Centennial Field, however, Murphy said she doesn鈥檛 know if that location will be available next year as the municipality plans to shut down the field for an undetermined amount of time to have it resurfaced in 2017.
鈥淭hat will be a challenge, but we鈥檙e working things out and we鈥檙e confident that next year鈥檚 festival will be even bigger and better than ever.鈥�
Kayla Byrne
[email protected]
