The 2013 edition of the Festival of the Performing Arts in Burns Lake paused for a moment to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of one of the festival’s original members and organizers. During the gala performance on the final evening of the two-week event, Boni Lambert announced her retirement after 55 years of service to the performing arts community.
Boni Lambert came to Burns Lake in 1952 as a young girl when her father moved the family from Vancouver to open a tire shop. Burns Lake was a very different place than it is now. Wood-board sidewalks and gravel highways east and west of town gave Burns Lake more of an isolated frontier town feel than it has now.
“It used to take five hours to drive to Prince George,” Lambert recalled. “But it seemed like we had more in town than we do now. We used to have a dry-cleaners, two grocers on main street, and a photography studio.”
What Burns Lake always had is a strong arts community.
The festival was started in 1957 by then local music teachers Margaret Long and Moira Vine.
The first festival was held in the old United church, currently the Masonic lodge at the corner of Third Ave. and Centre St. The original festival was mostly focussed on piano performance, but it quickly grew to include vocal and instrumental categories.
Lambert’s work with the festival began with writing advertising for the festival programs. Her role within the group of volunteers that run the festival grow as the festival itself grew, until she became the festival vice president. This year’s festival included a reinstatement of an instrumental session in Smithers, as well as vocal, theatre-arts, piano, song and poetry sections in Burns Lake.
The festival’s program hasn’t been static; it reflects the life of the arts in the region.
“Years ago we used to have a dance festival as well,” she said. “We had competitors from Prince Rupert through to Quesnel. It was a big deal for Burns Lake.”
The return of the instrumental portion to this years festival was the revival of what used to be a strong band and instrumental talent pool in Burns Lake. The festival had previously discontinued the instrumental section after band programs were phased out in the local elementary and high schools. There weren’t enough participants to justify a section. The festival has become smaller over the years, but it still requires a dedicated group of volunteers to put together the program every year. Lambert recently decided that this year would be her final year as a festival organizer. “After 50 or so years, I figured I had done my time,” she said. “There comes a time as you get older when you think maybe you should step back a bit and let younger people carry on.”
The motivation for volunteering all those years came from seeing young people enjoy the music and develop as musicians and performers as they grew-up.
“I wish there were more people who would step forward and volunteer for the committee,” she said. “We don’t have a problem getting help during the festival, but it’s the organizing part that it would be nice to have a few more people.
Most of her family is in Kelowna and Kamloops area, but she has no plans to move from Burns Lake.
“Burns Lake is a great community,” she said. “My friends here mean a lot to me.”
“Burns Lake is my home and I’m going to stay here as long as I can.”
