This coverage is from Terrace Standard and the original article can be found here.
The Pacific Northwest Music Festival has clearly shaken off the pandemic with a full roster of performers displaying their talents at various venues from March 27 to April 12 before appreciative audiences and supporters.
With 2,605 participants in 1,148 entries this year, the numbers are a clear statement that the festival has recovered, notes president Kelly Lima.
And that’s evident in the estimate more than 3,000 audience members who viewed performances over the festival period, she added.
“This festival was the first full one following COVID,” Lima said.
Interestingly enough, Lima said responding to the pandemic helped the festival reinvent itself.
“It’s become a little bit more manageable. I think that the way we did it before was great but with the rise of technology, the way people communicate, we’ve just been working smarter rather than harder,” she added.
Lima was most pleased that the festival has attracted a rejuvenated volunteer corps with 83 people (plus the festival’s 15 committee members) filling 362 slots during 74 performance sessions at three venues over 17 days.
One Kitimat couple has made a years-long practice of camping out in Terrace in their trailer while volunteering for dozens of jobs.
Once again, the REM Lee Theatre was the foundation venue, including the April 11 scholarship night and the April 12 gala evening. Knox United Church and the Terrace Pentecostal Assembly church were the other venues.
Lima also acknowledged the support of local citizens and businesses in donating $12,600 which was distributed in 126 awards and scholarships.
“For a lot of people, with the financial state that we’re in right now, may not be able to splurge on non-essentials. When we were looking at our budget, I really didn’t know how it was going to fly. We really had to tighten our belts but we had some anonymous donations from people .. a $1,000 here and a $1,000 there,” she said.
“The Rotary Club [of Terrace] has been one of our long-standing supporters and stepped up this year to become our top scholarship donator,” Lima continued.
Each venue also had a donation jar for audience members and each was often full, another sign of the festival’s draw.
“Around the province a lot of festivals will charge a fee to get in but that is the last things we want to do,” Lima said. “I want people to be able to come and enjoy the festival.”
The festival took on a national flavour this year when former Skeena Middle School band teacher Katia Georgeson, now living in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, brought three bands and a choir.
A community band from Smithers and a dance studio from Stewart added to the festival’s regional appeal.
This year adjudicators have given 27 people the opportunity to participate in various forms at the provincial performing arts festival in Victoria the first week of June.
To help defray costs for those who are able to go, the festival is holding an online air ticket raffle on its website, https://www.pnmf.ca/.
