The first big music festival of the season, Northern Lights Festival Boreal (NLFB) at Bell Park last weekend, was a big success, said Paul Loewenberg, festival board chair.
“It was one of the better festivals, like the 2005 festival when we had The Trews, Sarah Harmer and Natalie MacMaster. Loewenberg is also the artistic director, in charge of booking the performers. Attendance was heavy all three nights for headliners Joel Plaskett, Hawksley Workman and Serena Ryder."
Loewenberg is also the artistic director, in charge of booking the performers. Attendance was heavy all three nights for the headliners.
“It proves that, if you have energetic music over the three days and nights, you can sustain a great crowd. On Sunday night for Serena Ryder, we decided to bring in more chairs for the main stage area. They were all full,” he said.
Of special note was the tribute Sunday evening to the recently deceased Jackie Washington. He was a fixture of the festival for decades.
“We had an all-star jam on stage as a tribute to Jackie Washington. Sarah Craig, Chuck Roberts, Kevin Closs, Tuba Boy and all three generations of the Dunn family were there to pay their respects to Jackie. An all-star jam like this has not been done on the closing evening of the festival for 15 years. We should reinstate this as a tradition,” Loewenberg said.
Though final tallies of ticket sales were not available, board member Luc LaFramboise said ticket sales were steady all weekend for day and evening passes.
“When the weather was sunny, we definitely saw more people.”
