The organizers of the Carnduff and District Music Festival persevered through challenging weather conditions to deliver a festival that featured the musical and artistic talents of people in the southeast corner of the province.
The festival ran from March 4 to 8 in Carnduff and Oxbow. Pamela Dmytriw, the chairperson for this year’s festival, said Mother Nature tried to throw them a curveball with the weather conditions, but they were able to get all the performers in.
“It was a festival full of crazy chaos, and the board really banded together to make it continue on, and make it all go so smoothly,” said Dmytriw. “The parents really co-operated with us, and the participants themselves (co-operated) in dealing with all of the chaos that ensued this year.”
The strings and guitars division was on March 4, and organizers were able to get them in before the snow became too problematic. The piano division was supposed to run from March 5 to 8, but the snow forced some rescheduling.
“We had some snow-in issues, and to be fair to everyone, and to make sure that everyone got there, we worked with the parents and the teachers and rearranged all of the sessions, and the adjudicator was wonderful working with us in making that happen,” said Dmytriw.
An unscheduled break occurred on March 6 due to the weather, but the piano division was still finished two days later.
The bad weather eventually cleared, and the band and instrumental day happened on March 7
The vocal, speech arts and musical theatre was on March 9.
“That was the icing on the cake for the week,” said Dmytriw. “It went off without a catch.”
A total of 314 entries were received from 115 participants for this year’s festival. Some performed more than once, including musicians who appeared in multiple disciplines.
“We found that the kids who are participating are working harder and harder at their crafts, and are becoming more and more talented at the things that they do,” said Dmytriw.
The festival highlights and awards program was held on March 12. Twenty-three musicians from the different disciplines showcased their abilities one more time, and 52 scholarships and awards were handed out.
Leah MacFarlane, a piano student from Carnduff, will be going on to the provincial music festival in the spring in two piano divisions.
Damen Neufeld, Jenna Fleck and Marcfarlane were the meritorious performers for festival.
An arts component is also part of the festival each year, and this year it attracted a little more than 320 entries. Dmytriw said the festival committee has focused on it in the last few years to get it to grow.
Each of the categories had prizes awarded to recipients, and recognition at the festival as well.
“It amazes me each year how it is becoming stronger,” said Dmytriw. “We asked them to develop a piece of art based a theme, and this year’s theme was Soothes the Soul.”
The selections, and the imagination and creativity shown by the students, impressed Dmytriw.
Sometimes the artistic and musical talents of people in the southeast can be overlooked, and Dmytriw is pleased to see how strong they are.
Dmytriw said a lot of people come together to make the festival happen, and she estimates nearly 2,500 volunteer hours are contributed.
Next year will mark the 60th edition of the festival. They don’t have anything special planned as of yet, but Dmytriw expects next year’s festival will be a special one.
“We start kicking off our plans in April,” said Dmytriw. “We have a follow-up meeting to talk about everything that happened this year, and what went well, and start laying down plans for next year.”
