Canmore Folk Fest 2013

3 days of folky folk folkness in the Canadian Rockies!  Let your Canuck freak flag fly!!!

Anyways, this post is going to have minimal narration because I am fried from hours of looking at Jeff’s corporate receipts + I really would love to pull out my eyeballs + put them in a nice, cool glass of water.

Okay!  Folk Fest is kind of a big deal in Canmore.  Peeps lurve the Fest.  The weather was grey + rainy as we set out.  We were prepared + geared up – Jeff looks like he’s going on a back packing trip!

We picked up a group of friends on the walk to the fest.

Right when we arrived there was a climbing wall for kids – so fun!

There are a couple of stages set up for daytime performances.  Here’s a hip moustacheioed gent slappin’ the upright bass!

Jeff’s entry wrist band + ripped railroad stripe overalls.

There’s a good amount of vendors selling everything from hippie incense, guatemalan purses to handmade jewelry.  Tres folky!

Juna was loving the shiny beaded key chains!

One of the girls who had a booth was giving a tutorial on screen printing!

Doesn’t Karen look glam?!  She was the most fest ready chick in the crowd!  Her dress is from our hoarded collection!  To die for!

For eats, an impressive amount of gourmet food trucks!  What, what!!!

Okay, yeah – music!!!!  At around 4:30 we meandered over to the main stage for the night performances.

Karen + our friend Amy are balls to the walls because it was CROWDED already but they managed to squeeze all of us on a prime piece of real estate – but still, check out my view of the stage!

Seriously, you have to stake your claim to get a good view VERY EARLY!!!  And plus, the festival has a chair height regulation – no joke!  24 inches high from the ground to the top of the chair back!  Staff were walking around with rulers!  I kid you not!  But all of these chairs ARE NOT REGULATION HEIGHT!!!  GRRRR!!!

People were all rain gear, ponchoed + tarped up!  Yo, Canucks know how to attend a wet festival!

Attendance was  huge!  Here’s a shot looking back at the crowd from the stage area.

This was my favorite band of the day.  Habadekuk from Denmark!  I kept calling them Hobbledygook because I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out.

Kinda polka, kinda Celtic, but with a full horn section!

Here’s Jeff in our little height regulation acceptable chairs!

Alright, one thing I didn’t understand about this festival is that tons of people were reading books + magazines during the performances!  Rude!!!!

Ben Sollee is named one of the Top Ten Great Unknown Artists by National Public Radio.  Here he is picking his cello.

Juna + her buddy Jeff goofing off!

These police on stilts were hilarious, chiding the audience + writing up tickets!

I’ve never seen more people on stilts since moving to Canada.  Is it a Canuck thing???

Chic Gamine had fabulous girl harmony + they are cute + sassy!  These Canucks are having their American debut coming soon – look out for them!

This dude was reading his book with his hand on his chin during the entire concert!!!  Me no understand?!

The headliners for the evening were Spirit of the West an true iconic Canadian band, blending celtic, folk + a little bit of punk.  They’ve been around for 30 years + are one of Canada’s most successful alternative rock bands from the 80s + 90s.

The first rows of sitter downers had to move their seats + tarps to set up the “D-Zone”.  Yep, the dance zone.  It was a fun, energetic set + when they played “Home for a Rest” the crowd flipped out!  I knew it was their most famous anthem, but I didn’t realize HOW pumped Canucks were going to get – the entire crowd knew all of the lyrics!!!  Jeff took a video – watch in the beginning when Jeff pans over to my skerred reaction to all the hysterics!

Overall, I wasn’t toooo crazy about any of the music (Habadekuk + Spirit of the West were the highlights).  The crowd was very unenthusiastic for the most part of the concert, which was a bummer.  Dancing was pretty much frowned upon until the end of the night!  What kind of music festival frowns on dancing?!  Anyway, it was mostly a day of eating + lounging about with friends in lawn chairs!

Thanks for tagging along!!!  Until next time!