Salamander music festival returns bigger and better

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This article was published 22/07/2024 (673 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Salamander Summer Music Festival carried its momentum into its second year this past weekend, with organizers saying they had roughly double the attendance this time around.

The Sun visited the festival shortly after gates opened on Sunday, the last of the festival’s three days at Rideau Park.

Despite a hazy sky, high humidity and temperatures hovering at or above 25 C, spirits were high and attendees were gathering in greater numbers as the afternoon went on.

The festival stage was set up in the northeast corner of the park, near the corner of Franklin Street and Lorne Avenue East. The audience set up their chairs in the field in front, with kiddie pools spread out in a few locations.

Sherri Connery, the president of the organizing committee, said the pools were added midway through the festival to give people an option to cool off.

“I managed to get kiddie pools full of water all over the site and loaded our junior salamanders, which is the committee members’ children, with water guns and they hit the crowd,” Connery said. “Anyone that wanted a little cooldown, they assisted them with it.”

She said the heat might have kept some people away on Sunday afternoon, but predicted the festival would get busier as the night went on.

Friday saw double the attendance it did last year and Saturday was just shy of double its 2023 attendance. Compared to last year, there were more performing artists, more vendors, more food trucks, a dedicated kids area and more places with shade.

Despite the growth, Connery said the 10-person organizing committee wants to keep Salamander a manageable size going forward. They had around 97 volunteers across three days this year.

“I would love to figure out a way to add a camping section so we can attract more people from out of town, but I feel like we’ve become a little family for the weekend and we get to know one another, the kids make new festival friends,” Connery said.

“I really don’t ever want us to become a high festival. I don’t want to be Winnipeg Folk Fest.”

Another key element for Connery is making sure that the festival is safe and inclusive. Last year, the Friday night performances featured drag queens and a non-binary DJ in support of Pride, but this year 2SLGBTQIA+ performers were spread out across the entire weekend.

“We were asked by one of our artists last year if we had a safer spaces policy,” she said. “We researched creating one and just wanted to embrace that we have a place where everyone has the right to come and be their true, authentic self.”

Visiting the event from Winnipeg was Helena Kalomiris. She said she typically goes to three or more outdoor music festivals in Manitoba or Ontario each summer and decided to try Salamander this year.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” she said. “Good variety, talented performers … I like that it’s kind of laid back and it’s small. It’s all in this compact area, there’s not a lot of walking and It’s got all the amenities in one small area. Things like the Folk Festival, there’s a lot of walking and there’s not a lot of shade. And it’s more expensive too.”

Depending on her free time next year, she said would consider coming back in 2025.

The first performance to take the stage on Sunday afternoon was local singer-songwriter Anastasia Jane, who performed both original songs and covers during her set. She also performed on Friday and was part of the lineup for last year’s festival as well.

“I love it,” Jane said about being back.

“It’s nice to see more faces, nice to see more folks. It just has a really cool vibe. You can appreciate that Brandon has a certain vibe and a certain sense of community. To have an event like this that is inclusive, safe, but it also celebrates community in all of its different colours and shades, vibes and everything is just amazing.”

She said there were several outdoor music events in Brandon before the COVID-19 pandemic and is glad that the flaming salamander — featured on the top of Brandon’s city crest — represents the phoenix rising from the ashes.

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