Norm Crerar remains undaunted.
One of the driving forces behind the first Okanagan Tattoo that was originally slated for Aug. 3 at Kal Tire Place, Crerar and fellow organizers are now setting their sites on 2014, planning to make the first tattoo a two-day show rather than one.
A musical tattoo is a demonstration of military drumming, piping and skills, and is called a ‘tattoo’ because when the British Army was fighting in Belgium 300 years ago, soldiers were called in from the pubs each night for curfew, or Doe den tap toe, Dutch for ‘Turn off the tap.’
“We had the local army cadet camp lads on side, the local ethnic dance groups plus RCMP, a 100-voice choir, the Okanagan Tattoo Highland Dancers, Rob Dinwoodie, Galina Labun, six pipe bands plus others all ready to go,” said Crerar.
“What we needed was a military brass band. The one we thought was on the hook let us know at the end of May that they were standing down for July and August due to budget cuts. That pretty well ended our chance of doing the event this year.”
There will be a mini-tattoo Thursday from 5:30 to 5:50 p.m. at the army camp’s Dieppe Parade Square (west side of Highway 97) which will be held just before the Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Camp’s Sunset Ceremony at 6 p.m.
“We will have members of the Kalamalka Highlanders, the Arran Campbell youth, Shuswap Pipes and Drums and the Kelowna and Penticton pipe bands,” said Crerar. “We will march on, do a bit of formation drills and halt while highland dancers and the Sadok Ukrainian Dancers do a bit of a demo, followed by some BMX bike riders, then by two BX firefighters doing a fire fit challenge. Then we all march off.”
More than 40 people attended a townhall style information meeting earlier this year on the Okanagan Tattoo, which has all of its information posted on its website, www.okanagantattoo.ca.
The 2014 Okanagan Tattoo is scheduled for Saturday night, Aug. 2, and Sunday morning, Aug. 3, at Kal Tire Place.
