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A successful Music on the Meadow 2016: bigger and better than ever

The 7th annual MoM Festival was a huge success..............
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With 100 bands performing and a full fairground

Barbara Latkowski

Caledonia Courier

The 7th annual MoM Festival was a huge success.

From Aug. 19-21, an impressive musical lineup kept the Fort St. James Fairground full during a weekend that covered a variety of musical tastes and styles from all around B.C., Canada and around the world.

The MoM Festival is presented by the Music on the Mountain Society and organizer, Lionel Conant is thrilled with the turnout this year.

“We’ve grown every year and this year has been our biggest and best yet,” Conant said.

“We had over 100 bands perform. They brought so much vision and talent this year. It’s also amazing to have new singers and songwriters take part, to see all of the new up and coming talent that’s out there.”

But for Conant, this year’s festival was especially memorable because it encouraged youth involvement.

Children and youth of various ages took part in free workshops during the weekend as part of the Freedom Arts Empowerment Program.

“This is so exciting for us,” festival organizer, Lionel Conant said. “To be able to offer this to local youth is amazing.”

The program offered workshops that gave children and youth the opportunity to personally take advice from festival performers in singing, song writing and production.

Through this project, students were able to learn from professional musicians, create their own projects and perform their own creations once completed.

Some of the bands in this year’s festival included: D.O.A., Zonnis, Winona Wilde, Samson’s Delilah and David Sorkora.

For Conant, having Dave Soroka attend was a definite highlight.

For 24 hours straight, Soroka performed original songs during the festival.

The Sarokathon was a huge success and an epic feat that will not likely be repeated according to Conant.

But all in all, for Conant, the festival could not have been so successful without the help of its dedicated volunteers.

“It was stunning this year. We always have our core group of local volunteers but this year we had an influx of people that were from different places, even from as far as Alaska and Great Britain,” Conant said.

“We couldn’t have done it without all of these people who spent so many hours helping out. We are so thankful.”

So when do plans begin for next year?

For Conant, the festival is undoubtedly going to grow each year.

“We are already starting to book for next year.”