Local musician Cindy Doucette performed last summer when Music in the Park first launched. She’ll be back this season on July 29. Other musicians will perform here for the first time. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Osoyoos Music in the Park is building on a successful first season last summer as it prepares to launch a new season the Saturday of the Canada Day long weekend.
The July and August weekly free concerts kick off at the Gyro Park bandshell at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 2 with performer Steve Hillis, who performs tributes to the music of Garth Brooks and others.
Although this concert is being held on a Saturday, to avoid conflict with Cherry Fiesta, the remaining concerts, which run to Aug. 26, will all take place on Fridays. All run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., but for some there is a change of performer at 7:30 p.m.
The concerts are organized by Janis St. Louis, Alan Bleiken and Rusty Copeland, who call themselves “Three Amigo Productions,” even though they are volunteers operating on a non-profit basis.
St. Louis said the group’s funding comes from the Resort Municipality Initiative, which is a provincial fund allocated locally by the Town of Osoyoos.
“We asked for a bit more this year so we could do more advertising and promotion,” she said. “I requested the funds before the end of the year, so was able to get money that hadn’t been spent yet from the previous year, so that was good.”
Last year some concerts were better attended than others, St. Louis said. The largest attendance was about 300 people who turned out for the Royal Canadian Navy Concert Band.
St. Louis said the Three Amigos were unable to bring back the band this year, but they will be presenting Undercurrent: Royal Canadian Navy, a five-piece funk band featuring a subset of the concert band.
That show is the grand finale on Aug. 26, when they will perform for the first hour, followed by a performance by Copeland, who plays folk and country.
The only snag last year was smoke from the wildfires, St. Louis said. The group was able to use the Royal Canadian Legion Hall as a backup when smoke or rain made it difficult to use the Gyro Park bandshell.
“I was pretty happy with the way things worked last year,” said St. Louis. “Everyone showed up on time. The power was fine. AG Foods supplied bottles of water for the entertainers.”
This year’s lineup sees the return of some performers from last year as well as some new ones.
Returning this year are Flashback on July 8, who play vintage rock ‘n roll.
Also returning are local performers Brian Highley, who plays acoustic covers, and Cindy Doucette, who plays a mix of pop, jazz and rhythm and blues. The two each perform in one-hour slots on July 29.
Glory Days, who perform dance tunes from the 1940s to the present, were not part of last year’s Music in the Park, but the Amigos did bring them in for a separate performance at the Legion. They play on July 15.
Familiar to Osoyoos audiences, but new to Music in the Park, are Rick Wood (Aug. 12) and Dale Seaman & Highway 97 (Aug. 19).
Wood plays rockabilly, swing and country, while Seaman plays country and rock.
Entirely new this year are South Okanagan Big Band (July 22), who play big band swing, Darlene Ketchum Quartet (Aug. 5), and Beamer Wigley (Aug. 12).
St. Louis said she is especially excited about the Darlene Ketchum Quartet, although she said each of the Three Amigos is drawn to different kinds of music.
The quartet plays a mix of jazz, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues.
“I like R&B and I like gospel,” said St. Louis. “She has a fabulous voice.”
Beamer Wigley, age 13, is a promising young country singer who began playing guitar when he was five and has performed since age seven. He comes from Penticton.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
