The Abbotsford Arts Council finished off another successful year of evening concerts in Mill Lake this Saturday to a happy crowd. Western Jaguar performed on the steps of the Kariton Art Gallery to a crowd of over 80 people, despite the ominous black clouds over the venue and very real threat of rain.
The Mill Lake Music Concert Series, presented by the Abbotsford Arts Council, took place every Saturday from June 15 to Aug. 31 for the second year in a row. The show was free to attend, with many Mill Lake walkers pausing during their evening strolls to enjoy the open-air, local music.
“We have folks who set up their picnic dinner at 6 pm in front of the stage and hang out until the show starts at 7 pm. It is always fun to have young families attend as well, watching the kids rock out or dance around at the front of the stage is so encouraging,” Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts, executive director of the Abbotsford Arts Council, said over email.
The average attendance ranged from 60 people on the final day up to 400 people on the grassy lawn outside of the art gallery.
Previously, the concert series had taken place in other locations around the Valley and was called the Fraser Valley Concert Series or Envision Concert Series. Some iteration of the concert series featuring local artists has been going on in the Fraser Valley for the last several years, but this is the second year where there was a dedicated location for the entire event.
The series began with the Abbotsford Arts Council co-hosting Indigenous Performers Night on June 8 with Aboriginal Arts and Culture Day. Dakk’One, an Indigenous hip-hop artist from Saskatoon, performed at the events along with Chris Silver, the dance group Butterflies in Spirit, and Rudegang Entertainment.
The Cambree Lovesy Band, with local country music singer/songwriter Cambree Lovesy, played on June 15, followed by the Cascadia Wind Ensemble on June 22. The Moonliters, a local big band society, performed on June 29 to an audience of nearly 400 people.
In July, the Valleyfyre Band played a lively set of classic rock and country rock music on July 6. Kellen Saip played the following week, bringing soft blues and folk derived from his family gospel roots to the park. Sydney Beau followed with her poetic folk, pop, and orchestral-influenced songs and the Lonesome Town Painters with their bona fide bluegrass tunes.
August saw performances from Rachel and Ted, with toe-tappin’ jazz and swing; the Molten Blues Band, a four-member crew with high-energy music; Thistle Dew, a three-part female folk choral group; and Innerwild, a crowd-pleasing, do it all, dance-along band. The series ended with a performance by Western Jaguary on Aug. 30, an alternative indie rock group that had the crowd excited and the kids up and dancing despite the light rain.
“The idea of the series and Arts Council in general is to capture as much of the population as we can by offering as much variety as possible. This often spreads us thin but the enjoyment people get out of it is so worth it,” Trithardt-Tufts said.
Image: Jessica Barclay/UFV Cascade
