"Building on the success of Music in the Park, we wanted to add an anchor event to the end of the summer and this new festival in West Kelowna is sure to prove the family-friendly cultural event of the year." Ryan Donn, Creative Okanagan

The District of West Kelowna, with the generous support of key sponsor Reuter Real Estate, presents the inaugural Global Music Fest on Saturday, August 24th at Memorial Park, part of the popular Music in the Park summer concert series.

Global Music Fest is a family-friendly event offering another free entertainment option for West Kelowna residents, flavoured with the many cultures of the Okanagan Valley.

“The inaugural Music in the Park series last year was a resounding success and Council threw its whole-hearted support behind making this year’s Music in the Park bigger and better,” says Mayor Doug Findlater. “With the addition of Global Music Fest, the brainchild of Ryan Donn and Creative Okanagan, residents and our friends from other Okanagan communities have access to new and exciting cultural activities in West Kelowna.”

Donn is the Creative Director with Creative Okanagan and originally created Global Music Fest as an artistic showcase for Global Citizen Week and has worked with the Intercultural Society of the Central Okanagan to host the event in Kelowna four times. In securing a partnership with the District of West Kelowna to bring a new event across the water, he says the organizing team is placing even more emphasis on young families with a kid’s zone, multicultural food fair and all ages entertainment lineup worthy of pushing back bedtime.

"With the great success of Music in the Park, we know there is a desire for more cultural programming in West Kelowna," says Donn.

On the music front, homegrown favourite, Kinship, will bring their own special brand of in-your-face, foot-stomping Maritime and Celtic music to headline the event for their only summer performance in the region. They will be joined by the wildly popular folk-cabaret band Maria in the Shower, a Vaudeville-inspired fixture on the trendy East Vancouver art scene whose singer/percussionist, Todd Bifford, also hails from the Okanagan.

“We wanted to select two headliner acts that are well-known in the valley and represent some of our unique cultural sounds,” Donn says.  “And, of course, we couldn’t do this event without highlighting the first cultural community in the area, Westbank First Nation, selecting the First Nations fashion show, drum circle and some unique cultural kid’s zone activities to showcase WFN’s influence.”

Food vendors will include a taste of the Okanagan Nation from the Kekuli Café, famed for their flavourful bannock. Dragon's Lair Specialty Teas will be there to help quench the crowd's thirst, as will Everest Indian & Nepalese food.

In the SunFM Kid's Zone, ISCO presents a language arts booth, while those daring enough to suit up in sumo suits can test the ancient Japanese tradition alongside those trying on turbans with Kelowna Community Resources. There will be opportunities to create pictographs with members of Westbank First Nation. And the Big White bouncy castle, balloon artists and Kelowna Museums colouring station should burn some energy before kids spot the roaming ventriloquist.

Programming includes:

Live entertainment: Kinship; Maria in the Shower; Asian dance from Rejoicing Dance Troupe and Okanagan Chinese Cultural Association Ladies Dance Troupe; singer Quentin Scott of Westbank First Nation; songs from OK to Say, an organization combating racism in the Okanagan; and a First Nations fashion show hosted by 1st Lady.

Sun FM Kids Zone: Sumo suit wrestling; language arts by ISCO; roaming ventriloquist; centre cultural francophone de l'Okanagan; First Nations activities and crafts; Kelowna Museums; balloon artist; Kelowna Museums colouring station; Big White bouncy castle; and kid zone activities by DWK

Global Food Vendors: Kekuli Café, Thai Fusion, Dragon's Lair Specialty Teas and Everest Indian & Nepalese

Global Music Fest was made possible by a number of generous sponsors:
Reuter Real Estate
Central Okanagan Foundation
Intercultural Society of the Central Okanagan
Westbank First Nations
BC Hydro

Our media partners for this event include: Westside Weekly, Castanet, Shaw TV, and 99.9 SunFM

News from © iNFOnews, 2013