Many music lovers have already marked their calendars to attend the 26th annual Mission Folk Music Festival from July 25-28 at Fraser River Heritage Park.
Online ticket sales for early bird passes have increased 10 per cent over last year, according to festival director Francis Edwards.
This year’s festival will feature some of the finest Celtic music and brightest stars, such as Dick Gaughan, Mairi Campbell and Liz Carroll.
Gaughan is a Scot, from Leith on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Once you hear the man sing the songs he loves most a spell is cast as you are drenched in the voice and the strength of the old ballads. With a rich career since the 1970s, Gaughan was a founding member of Boys of the Lough and Five Hand Reel.
Campbell’s awards pretty much tell her story: Tutor of the Year and Scots Singer of the Year, Scots Trad Music Award, and LiveIreland’s Female Musician of the Year and Composition of the Year. She is, without a doubt, one of Scotland’s most all- encompassing musicians.
Carroll astounded the Irish music world at age 18 when she won the Senior All-Ireland Championship. She has been amazing the world since and in 2011, she was the first American-born composer honoured with Ireland’s most significant traditional music prize, the Cumadóir TG4.
Other categories of music you will find at the festival are Roots and Blues; New Faces, Young Voices; Made in BC; Aborginial Voices; Women of Song; and World on our Doorstep.
If you’ve missed the early bird sale, you can still get a break in admission prices with an advance ticket, available until July 25. Advance tickets for adults are $95 for a weekend pass, $50 for a one-day pass, and $45 for evening concerts only.
Tickets are available at Shopper’s Drug mart in Mission, by calling 604-82-5937 or online at www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca.
