Plain Folk

by Les Pearson
The Dream Festival: A Community's Centennial Celebration of Music!

The province is having a centennial birthday next year. What could possibly be better than a community, birthday bash, festival to celebrate the music of our community!  After all, Medicine Hat has an amazing musical heritage.

This is the kind of dream that gets blood rushing after shovelling the first December snow. If you love live music and know that there is snowdrift of local talent, your heart is going to trip hammer. You may say I'm a dreamer, but as John Lennon said, "I'm not the only one."

This dream started as the whimsical musing of folks who want a mid-winter festival in Medicine Hat. The more people talked, the bigger the storm of ideas and excitement! In fact, the storm became a raging blizzard. Here is the first shovelful. See what you think.

The festival would be held on the last weekend of January, 2005, as the first event in a year-long schedule of other community events. And the performers? They would all be local singers, songwriters, and musicians who are willing to share their music and talents with Medicine Hat and area. In fact, the festival would showcase their talent!

Picture it. All day Saturday there would be performances at a common festival site--say, Medicine Hat College. We know that one site works best to build that "festival feeling" and to make it easy for food concessions and craft booths that are part of every festival you have ever attended.

There would be choirs, bands--all kinds and shapes of them!--barbershop quartets, trios, duets, and soloists. There would be vocals and instrumentals! And--I nearly forgot!--there would be a combined local and military bagpipe parade to launch the whole day.

In the evening, there would be a celebrity concert in the College Theatre. (Let your imagination soar for a minute!) All the stars who found their first cosmic dust in our city would be invited to perform at the homecoming finale. They would glimmer beside the stars of today and even a few from tomorrow. But it does not end here!

On Sunday afternoon, there would be live Gospel music, featuring our church groups and singers--all staged at a local, non-denominational, funeral chapel. Can you beat the irony! If you can't beat it, you may want to join it.

A big dream needs big people and more than one group or club to shape it into reality. This event needs community ownership. It will take every music teacher, every band leader, every promoter, and musician. It will need all of us to become a reality. Here is how you can grab your share.

An organizational meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 15, 7:00 p.m., at the Volunteer Centre located in the REDI building at the south end of the railroad overpass. If a crowd shows, the dream is alive and well. If no one show? Well, there is a long hot summer and I feel a snooze coming on. (Ah, but in the sleep, what dreams!)