To take a big chunk out of the costs for this year’s Sunshine Festival, Buy-Low Foods manager Tyler Gludovatzand, left, hands off a cheque for $2,500 to parks and recreation staffers Kyle Fossett, reception clerk, and Natalie Korsovetski, program supervisor. (Dan Walton photo)
The 6th Annual Oliver Sunshine Festival comes to Oliver Community Park this week, bringing three nights of live entertainment July 7-9.
The Oliver Sunshine Festival will run 5- 11 p.m. on Friday, July 8 and 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturday, July 9 featuring a full schedule of free family-friendly entertainment in the park and on the community stage.
Thanks to the generous support of local sponsors, the 2016 main stage entertainment is high energy and high calibre with something to appeal to everyone.
Friday night’s lineup, presented by Buy-Low Foods, will feature local singer/songwriter Aimee Grice, Vancouver’s Kyler Schogen and his guitar-based feel good band with groove oriented, catchy, bluesy pop/rock tunes and headlining from Kelowna the five-piece “fun/folk rock” band Wild Son. Over the past few years, Wild Son has firmly established itself as one of the must-see bands in western Canada.
The annual Sunshine Festival Parade will take place Saturday at 10:30 a.m. down Main Street before Saturday’s main stage entertainment presented by the Rotary Club of Oliver gets underway at noon with the Get Bent Belly Dancers.
The Oliver’s Got Talent Show will start at 12:30 p.m. featuring singing and dancing performances from a talented group of local performers between the ages of 7 and 14. They include Emma Ferrier, Kristina Decker, Kyah Allen, Emma Lennox, Zoe Crowley, Chloe Thompson, Samantha Williams, Jack Vernon, Caitlyn Field, Sophia Hoffman, Kelan Harty and Laura Harty.
Between 2-4 p.m. there will be a Loonie Swim at the Oliver Pool and the annual Cherry Pie eating contest.
Everyone is welcome to participate in the Drum Circle taking place at 4:30 p.m. followed by the return of community favourite Bobby Bovenzi and the Nankama drumming and dance group.
Get your dance on with instructor Lori Ashe for Zumba in the Park, then Penticton’s own Flashback will be sure to get people on their feet with their popular song list from the 1960s and ’70s, followed by headlining act Vancouver’s Terence Jack.
Inspired by artists such as Ben Harper and The Avett Brothers, the songs on Jack’s album Reckless Abandon dig their roots in alt-folk territory.
Lap steel guitars serenade on the tender “Home is Where The Heart Is”, then turn up the grit with rockers such as the bluesy “Run”.
Stay after the sun goes down for the fire dance performance by Penticton’s Nadine and Neil and fun dance set from Oliver’s own DJ Mast3rblast3r to close out the festival.
For a full listing of the festival entertainment schedule along with bios and photos of the performers please visit www.oliverrecreation.ca/oliver-sunshine-festival.
The “Under the Sea” Kids Zone presented by Fun4Life will be open until 8 p.m. both nights, including a petting zoo, inflatables, craft tent, sand tent, face painting, sumo wrestling suits and more, all at no cost. Fun4Life is bringing in some new water-based activities perfect for a summer festival including additional inflatable waterslides and water walking balls, large inflatable spheres that allow a person to get inside and walk across the water’s surface.
Festival goers can enjoy summer eats and treats from the attending food vendors such as Hawaiian Shave Ice, Mini Donuts, Poutine, Lion’s/Lioness BBQ, Samosa Express and more.
The Henna Hut will be on site doing tattoos and there will be opportunities to shop for clothing, cottage antiques and packaged food from merchandise vendors.
Kicking off the weekend’s festivities this Thursday will be the 3rd annual “UnCork the Sun” wine tasting event, a fundraiser for the Sunshine Festival presented by the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association and Oliver Tourism Association.
This all-ages ticketed event will feature tastings of several local wines as well as beer from the Firehall Brewery, live music from contemporary rock band Rumble100 and the one-of-a-kind “Top Dog” culinary competition pitting local chefs Nicholas Atkins from Mica Restaurant against returning champion Derek Uhlemann of Piggys BarBQ to create the best signature hot dog.
“After training all year I am excited to receive challenger Nicholas on the battlefield”, said Uhlemann. “I look forward to raising the Golden Hot Dog trophy over my head on the winner’s podium.” Admission to the event includes three tasting tickets, hotdogs, take home wine glass and a fabulous night in the park. Tickets are on sale at the Oliver Visitor Centre, the Oliver Community Centre and a limited number of tickets will be available at the gate.
The festival organizing committee is still looking for volunteers to assist with security and the Kids Zone on Saturday, July 9. Volunteer shifts are only three hours and provide a great way to enjoy the event while giving back to your community.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the festival is asked to contact Natalie Korsovetski at [email protected] or 250-498-4985.
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