Kris Hargrave and Kia Zahrabi experienced a setback when the wildfires last year forced the cancellation of the Ponderosa Music and Arts Festival. But they’re back and ready to go again this year. (Photo supplied)
In its own very strange way, the devastating wildfires that forced the cancellation of last year’s Ponderosa Music and Arts Festival in Rock Creek has helped increase the profile of the festival across the province.
Kris Hargrave, who along with his best friend Kia Zahrabi, are the organizers and heart and soul of the Ponderosa Music and Arts Festival, said many people who had never heard of their event sure did once the wildfires forced last year’s festival to be cancelled.
“Kia and I both live in Vancouver and here in Vancouver when we mention our festival takes place in Rock Creek, I can’t tell you how many people have commented saying, ‘isn’t that where the wildfires’ broke out last summer’,” said Hargrave. “In its strange little way, last year’s wildfires sort of put Rock Creek on the map.
“It was a horrible event that caused a lot of destruction and a lot of people lost their homes, but no one was killed, which is the most important thing and it has really helped raise the profile of our festival in its own little way.”
Hargrave and Zahrabi got the idea to organize their own festival after dozens of friends attended a music party at Zahraibi’s family farm in Oliver back in the summer of 2012.
The first Ponderosa festival was held in August of 2013.
After several months of hard work to get ready for last year’s festival, it was heartbreaking to have to cancel after wildfires raged through Rock Creek, said Hargrave.
“We really didn’t have any other choice but to cancel considering all of the devastation that had taken place,” he said.
Ironically, the Rock Creek Fairgrounds where the festival takes, didn’t suffer any damage whatsoever as a result of the wildfires, he said.
One year later, he and Zahrabi are thrilled to be bringing Ponderosa back to Rock Creek, with this year’s event set to take place from Aug. 19-21.
“We didn’t ever think of packing it in, even though we had our financial concerns and didn’t know if the fairgrounds were going to survive the fires,” he said. “Fortunately, the amount of support we received from our friends and supporters following the fire and having to cancel last year’s festival made us more determined than ever to come back this year.”
A total of 25 bands and DJs, along with a small group of visual artists, will be part of the 2016 Ponderosa festival, said Hargrave.
Headliners include Montreal’s alternative indie rockers Timber Timbre on Friday, Aug. 19, psychedelic guitar rockers Black Mountain on Saturday night and blues rockers The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer on Sunday evening.
“We’re thrilled with our musical lineup this year,” said Hargrave. “We decided to bring back about one-third of the groups we had signed up for last year that were still available to perform this year.
“Our plan is to eventually give every single band that we had signed up last year a chance to play at our festival in the next couple of years. We think that’s only fair.’
The Rock Creek Fairgrounds is a simply outstanding venue to host a small town music and arts festival as it’s located on the gorgeous Kettle River and there are two large campgrounds easily accessible for festival goers, he said.
“If you want to take a break in the music, you can grab a tube and float down the Kettle River and takes you right to the festival site,” he said. “It’s a pretty unique and amazing venue to be honest.’
With 25 bands and performers on hand, there are close to 200 musicians who will be part of the festival and he and Zahrabi are confident they can draw large enough crowds to pay all their bills during this third Ponderosa festival, said Hargrave.
“Breaking even by year five has honestly been the goal from day one because we realize it does take some time to establish any kind of music festival that’s going to last,” he said. “Kia and I put up a lot of our own money to run the first two festivals and we’re fine with that, but we’re confident we can come close to breaking even this year.
“We’re both young guys working full time jobs, but putting this festival together has become a real passion for both of us and we’re starting to see a lot of regular supporters coming out, so we’re pretty excited about the future.”
Because of the site, Ponderosa will never become a major festival, but if they could regularly attract 2,500 people – or 7,500 over three days – the festival would continue for years, introduce bigger acts each year and perhaps even turn a small profit, he said.
“Our goal all along was to put together a really good small town festival in an intimate setting that attracts some really top notch bands and performers,” he said. “We’ve got a great lineup of bands this year and I really think we’re headed in the right direction.”
Advance ticket sales have been very solid and a large majority of the $169 weekend passes – which includes three days of camping and access to all festival events – have been sold, he said.
There will be several new food vendors on site and helicopter rides are also being offered this year, he said.
Tickets will remain on sale until Aug. 19 at www.ponderosafestival.com.
Weekend and day passes will be sold on site throughout the festival weekend.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
The Ponderosa Music and Arts Festival at Rock Creek promises lots of great music. (Photo supplied)
