I did not know until recently that Music in the Park has not been using any of our local entertainers. No Osoyoos acts have been used for three years.  All other communities support their local musicians but not Osoyoos, so I asked our local entertainers and here are their responses.

Once the committee eliminated local entertainers they hired bands that normally play at venues where there is a cover charge of $20 to $30 per ticket, or they get paid from food and beverage sales so Music in the Park became a free Friday night concert at Gyro Park.  

Not only were local entertainers not employed they also could not get a gig at other venues as no one would compete with a free concert and all other venues were dark.

Every community has ‘gig’ workers who are entertainers and the most important night of work is Friday nights when the public wants to eat, drink, and be entertained.

Gig workers are not only the entertainers on stage.  They are the extra help hired to cook, bartend, serve customers, security, and other jobs at the same time.  

Attracting the food and entertainment crowd today is very competitive, which is why there is karaoke and live bands.

Free Friday night concerts have shuttered the local entertainment industry in Osoyoos and they now rely on performing in Oliver at their Music in the Park and their gigs have been down in summer for the past three years, and summer should be their busiest time.

When our local musicians do not play, it means others in our community do not get ‘gig’ work on those evenings. A band appearing at the Sage Pub or the Owl Pub means extra staff for the evening which can mean five to 10 gig workers or more depending on the event.

For the past three years the Osoyoos Golf Course has wanted to put on a Friday night evening but did not want to compete with a free concert and that means we have one less venue in town.

JoJo’s Café had a few café concerts but it is small and the arrival of COVID has made it tough.

I will make a suggestion that Music in the Park be moved to Wednesday night so that it is a non-competitive night. I know that most of the people attending are the holiday crowd and the majority of them change each week so there will still be big crowds.  That frees up the food, beverage, and wineries to promote their businesses as Friday night is also their major night of the week.

Doug Robb, GM at the Osoyoos Golf Course, in an email to me says, “I would agree Wednesday makes more sense. Hopefully this summer we can get back to some live music.”

Friday night has always been the feature night at the Royal Canadian Legion and they have had singles and duos in their canteen area and they are also affected.  

Two years ago one of the managers at the Sage Pub told me they could not do anything such as a band because of the free concert at the town park.

Music in the Park should not be a hindrance to our local entertainers or local venues, however it can be rectified by asking them to move it to Wednesday night and using ‘area talent’ similar to Oliver.  That way taxpayer money helps promote our local entertainers as they all donate their time and spend their money in our community. The comment of “Shop at Home” applies to our entertainers too.

There is plenty of time to make the change from a musician standpoint.

From the comments I have read: If they used two acts per night with a 45- minute set with an emcee like Brock Jackson or Randy Bedard it could also be used to promote other events in the year from the Destination Osoyoos calendar. I also know that there is a good chance a sponsor will cover the sound system costs and merchants will get involved. 

I know the council hasn’t seen it from this side of the equation and didn’t realize it was having a negative effect on our local entertainment circle. I didn’t realize how bad until I talked to local artists in late January and looked at the venue situation.

Local entertainers today survive by playing in their immediate area and having venues to play such as the Osoyoos Golf Course which is needed especially in a summer resort area.

Tom Shields, Osoyoos