Music fest ‘nice way to end the summer’

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This article was published 11/09/2017 (2943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not every day a music festival doubles as a babysitter.

But then the Summer Lights Music Festival — only two years into its infancy — is not like many other concerts.

Blanketing the foot of the stage was a layer of sand, which a bevy of children treated like a beach. Among the entertained youngsters was the four-year-old son of Winnipeg singer-songwriter JP Hoe.

“This seems like a good day camp,” Hoe told the crowd; his eyes not far from his son, Parker, playing in the sand.

From noon Saturday until a little past midnight, hundreds of people streamed onto the grounds of Keystone Centre in Brandon, amid the forested canopy to the east, for hours of music, with interludes of yoga and specks of sand wedged between one’s toes.

Adam Duntil of Kelowna, B.C., ended his three-month eastern Canada road trip with this festival.

“This is the way to wrap it up,” the 25-year-old said, “with some beautiful music and meeting beautiful people. It’s a pretty nice way to end the summer.”

Their trip concluded in Brandon where his college pal, Blake Majcher, calls home. On Sunday, Duntil flew back to British Columbia; his last day of summer to be remembered as a medley of folk and indie music.

For a moment Saturday evening, Duntil joined the children in the sand. He stared upwards at one point, as four-year-old Rosannah Davidson pointed out how high their sand castle would reach in the sky.

He marvelled at the enjoyment the children were getting out of something so simple.

“I think as people get older, they lose their youthfulness, so it’s important to cultivate that in yourself,” he said. “When you see opportunities to be young, creative and play, you have to take that opportunity.”

The mother of one of those sand architects was Diana Davidson of Neepawa.

She was enjoying the tunes among family and friends, who hung hammocks from trees and covered the grassy terrain in blankets.

“Let’s call it hammock-ville,” Davidson said with a chuckle.

After attending the first incarnation of the Summer Lights Music Festival last September, she wasn’t going to miss the second go-around.

“This is the place we love to be,” Davidson said. “This is such a nice time to get under the trees and listen to a great lineup.”

The weather was just fine for an early September weekend, with temperatures approaching 30 C by mid-afternoon.

Under that backdrop performed folk-country singer-songwriter William Prince, a Juno-winning artist from Winnipeg, as well as JP Hoe, Dave Quanbury, Sweet Alibi, Richard Inman, Lanikai, Shotgun Jimmie and Fontine.

Once the sun had set, popular acts like Winnipeg’s own Royal Canoe and Vancouver-based indie pop outfit The Zolas illuminated the stage.

The organizer of all of this, Dylan MacDonald, must be among the youngest music festival organizers around at the age of 23.

As a musician himself, part of the Middle Coast trio, he came to the realization the city could benefit from another option for the concert-going crowd, and chose to create something with the help of many volunteers, he said.

He explained it’s humbling to see a demographically diverse audience in front of him.

“We’re pushing people’s boundaries a little bit. Here’s some folk music, but here’s also some weird indie rock music that doesn’t play on any radio station in Brandon, but is really cool and you’re going to like.”

Compartmentalizing the music played into specific genres is tough, MacDonald said. Take Royal Canoe, for example, which define themselves as “musical mad scientists.”

“We have everything, man,” MacDonald said of the variety. “We’re so lucky with the amount of talent we have in our city today.”

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