Editor:
The Canmore Folk Festival stakes claim to being the longest-running folk music festival in Alberta, which may explain why its organizing principles are reminiscent of Canada’s colonial past.
Every year, Barrett’s Privateers – the colonists – arrive early to stake their land claims in front of the Stan Rogers Memorial Stage, like a Civil War reenactment society, before retiring to the comfort of the local coffee shop.
Thereafter, bemused artists play workshops and concerts to music fans who sit 30+ metres from the stage since people are able to leave chairs there all weekend, looking longingly across the sea – the Northwest Passage? – of neatly arranged polyester rectangles.
Fleetingly, from 6 to 8 p.m., some of these land claims are even occupied by their owners, but not for too long lest the music get too loud.
The good news for music fans is that there are many other music festivals in western Canada that celebrate music by enabling artists play in proximity to their audience. Wonderful festivals – some as old as Canmore – such as Salmon Arm Roots and Blues, Mission Folk Festival and the Filberg Festival in Comox offer much more egalitarian fan experiences and allow artists to play to engaged audiences who get to sit in front of the stage.
Canmore, meanwhile, is “committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment where everyone can enjoy the music”. A goal that is celebrated without a hint of irony by awarding a golden tarp each year to a lucky winner who doesn’t even have to participate in the tarp shuffle to prevent others from getting too close to the music – schadenfreude indeed.
Ian Dickinson,
Canmore
