Evening Arts in the Park event wraps up the summer with lots of great music

 

The third and final installment of this summer’s Arts in the Park at Rotary Park was held on Thursday, August 23. Though the forecast called for rain it, thankfully, didn’t start to sprinkle until final credits for the outdoor movie started to roll. This year’s movie was Paddington which is the story of an adventurous and accident-prone bear who ends up living with a family in London. The movie had the crowd in stitches which helped keep everyone warm on the chilly night.

The after-dark event featured an artisan market, local jam session, and the family-friendly movie. On the posters, organizers said a surprise guest would be taking part but didn’t give any clues as to who it was. At 8 p.m. all was revealed as Denis Dufresne and Aaron Young of Ghost Boy hit the mic under the pavilion. Some residents will remember Dufresne’s name from when Gord Bamford was in Whitecourt as he opened for him. The duo brought in a mix of rock, pop, and country with great vocals, guitar rifts, and fantastic fiddle playing.

Local musicians Joe Public and Bev Foster teamed up to become Foster the Public and invited anyone to join them for an open mic opportunity. “Anyone who wanted to come and perform could sub in and do vocals, jam on the guitar, or anything like that. The nice part about that is that a lot of people either sing but don’t play an instrument or can play but don’t sing so this gave them an opportunity to jam together,” explained Courtney Milford, Arts & Culture Co-ordinator for the Town of Whitecourt.

Also performing during the showcase was the brother and sister act of Danielle and Colton Knapp. “After the music we popped up the big screen and had a great outdoor movie,” said Milford. Sponsored by the Eagle River Casino, the town-run event provided a free, fun night out for the community. “We put these events on because we want to give the community a chance to experience quality arts and culture opportunities at an affordable cost which is free.”

Milford said the music was great and that she loved seeing the audience get involved as they clapped along and cheered. “There is a strong musical community here and it’s nice to have them come out and support each other and work so well together to put on something like this. For myself, as a programmer of these types of events in town, sometimes we find people are a little shy to try out a band they’ve never heard of before especially if they have to pay for it but if you can showcase professional and greatly talented musicians for free then people will start to see that the music we put together is good no matter if you know the band’s name or not.”

Milford said she hopes the community enjoyed the Arts in the Park events over the summer and thanks everyone for coming out.