The Filberg Festival will be showcasing the best in Canadian arts, crafts and music July 31 to August 3.
The festival is the major fundraiser for the Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park and Wendy Sears, one of the producers, said they try to keep the festival fresh so it can continue to sustain its longevity and provide the much-needed funds to keep the park and its heritage buildings in good repair.
Sears said for 33 years the festival has been known for its great entertainment and this year they want to exceed the public’s expectations, so they added a Friday evening performance featuring the Cowboy Junkies on July 31.
“We thought we would try an evening concert to bring in some more funds,” she said.
Cowboy Junkies were formed in Toronto in 1985 by siblings Michael Timmins, Margo Timmins, Peter Timmins and friend Alan Anton.
The alternative country/blues/folk rock band are best known for the seminal album, The Trinity Session.
Opening for the Cowboy Junkies will be The Lion, The Bear, The Fox.
Sears said the festival will clear the grounds at 6 p.m. and re-open at 7 p.m. with a performance from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
A limited number of tickets priced at $39 for festival seating are available on-line only for the special evening concert (www.filbergfestival.com/tickets).
For those who can’t make the Friday night concert, there is a stellar musical line-up for the actual festival which includes Parksville’s queen of country Beth Marie Anderson.
She will perform an acoustic set with another guitar player on Monday, August 3 from 12-1 p.m. on the Garden Stage.
“I’m super excited to be playing the festival,” she said.
Anderson just returned from Nashville’s CMA Fan Fair and she couldn’t be happier with the results
“I was selected as the only Canadian Emerging Artist at the 2015 CMA Fan Fair June 11-14.”
For four days she greeted fans and estimates about 2,000 people got autographs, pictures and a chat with her.
During the event she also met some of her childhood icons.
“I met Jamie O’Neal, Phil Vasser, Brenda Lee, Megan Linsey (the voice) Lynn Anderson and more. They were so supportive of emerging artists and just had wonderful things to say.”
Now that Anderson is back home she is counting on her fan base here to step up and support a project she hopes will get her nominated for a Country Music Award (CMA).
Anderson began a 19 day summer EP campaign to raise money to record five songs but so far it has fallen short.
She said the EP has to be released by July 30 to be eligible for a CMA award and the deadline on her Indiegogo campaign is July 23.
“I realize people who buy music are a dying breed, but as an independent artist from the Island — I really need the support now more than ever. If every person on my Facebook donated $5 I would reach my goal nine times over,” she said.
Anderson said she has managed to successfully record two albums in Nashville but it’s gotten to the point where she can’t move forward without a little help.
“I have already spent $5,000 on renting the studio, paying the session players, engineer, producer, and other speciality musicians to create these five tracks and I couldn’t be more excited about how they are sounding. I am asking for $3,128 to help complete this project.”
The link to her campaign is:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/beth-marie-anderson-s-ep-summer-2015#/story.
