A new festival celebrating Indigenous culture with music, dance and more, will be take place beside Shuswap Lake later this month.
The Salmon Arm Folk Music Society (SAFMS) invites the public to attend the Pellsqepts Spring Winds Music Festival, being held at Pierre’s Point on Saturday, March 18.
Complete with a variety of Indigenous music, art and dancing, the free festival is open to all ages and will showcases handcrafted goods from Shuswap artisans and delicious treats from local food vendors.
“We want to celebrate the original peoples of the land here in the Secwépemc,” said Kenthen Thomas, the folk society’s Indigenous and youth coordinator. “What better way to do this than with a lineup of some of the best music and entertainers here in the Interior. We want to celebrate our Indigeneity, our ways of knowing and being through the voices, through the songs and dances.”
The Pellsqepts Spring Winds Music Festival will feature traditional St’at’imc grizzly bear dancers, Bernice Jensen & Pow Wow Crew, the DerRic Starlight Show, Rain Penner August, Ashcroft’s contemporary Indigenous fusion group The Melawmen Collective and Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter and ROOTSandBLUES festival-favourite George Leach.
Made possible thanks to the support of PacifiCan and the Government of Canada, the one-day-only event runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 18, at 2471 Pierre’s Point Road in Salmon Arm.
For more information about the Pellsqepts Spring Winds Music Festival and the 31st annual ROOTSandBLUES Festival this summer, visit the SAFMS online at rootsandblues.ca or call 250-833-4096.
Read more: Sarah McLachlan, Blue Rodeo among artists performing at 2023 Salmon Arm ROOTSandBLUES
Read more:Making Salmon Arm ‘Live Music Capital of B.C.’ one of the goals for federal grant funding
lachlan@saobserver.net
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