The sun has set on another hot Roots and Blues Festival.
Attendance may be down a bit, but festival chair Lody Kieken says the totals – 9,000 Friday, 10,000 Saturday and 9,000 Sunday – are similar to last year, at a time when other music festivals have reported drops in the neighbourhood of 15 to 20 per cent.
“To me, artistically, this was our most successful festival, such a variety of music,” he said Monday, comparing the laid-back mood of performers and patrons alike to a kind of love-in. “A lot of people commented on how mellow people were, everyone in a feel-good mood, no pushing or shoving.”
A proud Kieken says Bram Morrison told him that Roots and Blues “is not the standard – you set the standard.”
That’s largely due to the 950 volunteers, some five per cent of the city’s population, who do such a great job, he says.
“Volunteers and friendliness is what the artists comment about most,” Kieken says. “That we’re really well-organized, that whenever they need things it’s there – even the little things.”
And some of the things volunteers do are not so little.
Kieken tells of one First Nations volunteer who, upon hearing how several Danish festival-goers were anxious to go fishing, took them to the wharf, organized a boat and when one of them caught a fish, took them to a campground to cook the fish over a fire.
“I’m sure those people will remember that for the rest of their lives,” he says.
Gillian Boucher is likely never to forget her visit either.
Dressed for the hot weather and unaware how cold it can get in the Shuswap when the sun sinks behind the mountain, Boucher was sitting beside the main stage shivering.
A volunteer noticed and escorted the violinist over to a rack of sweaters and fleeces purchased from the thrift store and told her to find something to borrow for the duration of her stay.
Kieken is proud, too, of how gracious the artists were in acknowledging all of Salmon Arm – the volunteers, the festival, executive director Hugo Rampen, and more.
Kieken, who owns Acorn Music, says the decision was made this year to get several less-familiar performers rather than spending half the budget on one major headliner.
“I talk to people in the store who say, ‘I came here because I wanted to see so-and-so, but I actually heard the best of it at a workshop,’” he says, noting performers really have no idea how they will fit in with other musicians prior to the event. “They make something and the magic always happens.”
While some were savouring their musical memories Monday, Rampen was facing a massive cleanup.
Exhausted from 10 days of festival that included a new outreach program, Rampen was digesting the results of the three-day music fest and germinating ideas for next year’s 20th anniversary event.
“I want to thank the community, they put up with us and allow us to do this,” he said, noting that despite the economy and earlier cold weather, he was satisfied with the attendance.
“When we created the budget last year, we knew we were in a tough spot and dropped our anticipated revenue.”
Rampen says he believes he did have headliners in the Arkells, Broken Social Scene, Taj Mahal, John Butler Trio and Jonny Lang.
Rampen broke with festival tradition this year and instead of funnelling money into buying one headliner, he worked strategically to purchase what he calls four or five ‘midliners’ or ‘headliners.’ Then he carefully placed them in time slots over the three nights.
“It makes a good impact at the gate. We saw that our advance sales were down, but the gate sales each night were very strong.”
Rampen was “particularly happy” with the results of the many workshops he created prior to the festival.
“You don’t know if they’ll succeed or fail, usually out of 24, one or two leave you indifferent,” he says. “When a workshop fails is when the musician doesn’t buy in.”
As always, there were challenges to be dealt with throughout the weekend. Rampen calls the power outage at the mainstage another “great learning exercise.”
A breaker overheated during a changeover, causing a short power outage. An electrical contractor saw it was overheating during the following act and pulled the plug on the power at the next changeover in order to replace the breaker.
“I think that’s the first time we’ve ever rocked the house enough to blow out the power,” joked Sharon Hampson of children’s act Sharon and Bram.
The duo’s rendition of Peanut Butter was cut short, but the artists were delighted the crowd kept the song going.
“It actually was such a heart-warming moment for me to hear the audience all in song,” adds Hampson.
Rampen directs more praise to festival volunteers who, he says, have a highly developed skill set.
“I’m just so proud of the team that puts it together,” he says. “Unfortunately people come up and thank me. It’s not me, it’s the staff of 12, 950 volunteers, 12 board members and a long list of sponsors that invest in us.”