It's not every day that Deer Lake Park is overflowing with artists, cuisine, lawn chairs and international musicians - but when it is, you can guarantee it's another Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.
A record-breaking crowd of about 8,000 turned out under clear blue skies for the 12th annual festival on Saturday.
"It's been great so far," attendee Angela Davies said. "The seats aren't bad just sitting on the grass. It's a mellow crowd. You've got k.d. lang plus a nice, beautiful day in August. The sun is out, you know, the whole thing."
Davies was sitting at the top of the grass hill overlooking thousands of other people in lawn chairs, straw hats, blankets and picnic baskets. She was sitting beside her longtime best friend, Nancy Keough, who came for k.d. lang but stayed for all the "wonderful performers," she said.
"The breeze from the lake is also wonderful, it's just so relaxing," Keough noted. "I mean, definitely k.d. lang was the draw, but I heard really good reviews on Matt Andersen."
New Brunswick's larger-than-life star was filling the park with his soulful voice while Keough was admiring him from afar on the Lake Stage.
Andersen's engaging performance was met with a swooning crowd as he was the first performer to grace the main stage. Before his set was over, he returned the crowd's applause with his own compliments about the beautiful venue.
He followed Victoria's own Current Swell, who lived up to their reputation for a surf rock/new roots sound, and Ben Rodgers and the Black Oats, who played a country and folk set.
The crowd was still buzzing and settling down, finding the perfect spots, but took in the first two bands from the Garden Stage with their fun lyrics.
Little children were tugging along their newly made, cardboard guitars - larger than themselves - from the kids' zone; while adults were enjoying the beer garden featuring Granville Island's own homemade brews.
The Artisan Market was filled with at least 20 vendors, selling everything from clothes, to guitars, leaf artwork and glass jewelry to pottery.
"It's my third year at Blues Fest," said Burnaby's own guitar craftsman, Thomas Wray. "I love it here."
Wray's guitars feature all kinds of wood, from Indian rosewood to mahogany. They range from $3,000 and up, are built by hand and can be found on his website, www.wrayguitars.ca.
"They're hand-built guitars as opposed to factory-made," he said. "They're tuned as they're built. They've got a custom contour and are entirely ergonomic."
Wray creates his masterpieces, which feature a unique slump for your shoulder to rest on more comfortably, in the basement of his Burnaby home.
"They're not a toy," he added jokingly, before letting another onlooker sit down and play with one of his creations.
Dessie Marshall was another vendor under the tent with her Violent Hippie Leaf Art.
It was Marshall's first time at Blues Fest, and she said she felt lucky to be there.
"Blues Fest is awesome," she said. "We're fortunate to have the music right there and to see so many people."
Marshall handpicks the leaves from parks or sidewalks and uses a razor to create a picture.
"I saw this random leaf fall on the ground, and I picked it up," she said. "It was so big, and I basically started seeing images in the leaves. So I took a razor blade and made them."
Marshall showed her first-ever leaf art piece of an elephant's face. The leaves range from $75 to $400.
After Andersen finished his set, the Secret Sisters took to the Garden Stage with covers of some of their favourite recording artists, such as Hank Williams, Patsy Klein and George Jones.
The crowd was excited and cheered on the names the Alabama-born sisters gushed about.
Between each song, the two real-life sisters compared their home state's weather to Vancouver's, favouring the latter, and shared stories about their musical home life.
The Secret Sisters admitted their father was a major influence on their life and delivered a heartbreaking rendition of Cry Baby Cry, which the crowd seemed to much appreciate.
Next up was the rockabilly Irish sensation Imelda May, who limped on to the main stage in a form-fitting black and yellow striped dress.
Before her set, May said she was drawn to the lake and decided to hop the fence to see it, but her jump down was met with a loud crack in her ankle.
"I'm up to me eyeballs on painkillers," she told the crowd. "I should go to a hospital, but there's a gig to do."
Although she stuck to sitting, May picked up a bodhran (a traditionally Irish frame-drum) and played it for her last song, Johnny Got a Boom Boom, from her 2008 album Love Tattoo.
Unfortunately, May still didn't get to see the lake, but a standing ovation after her set probably made her forget all about it.
The crowd's attraction to the engaging performer warranted an encore of Tainted Love, which had many people of all ages standing up and dancing.
Following the energetic starlet was the touching performance by Luke Doucet, who played alongside his wife, Melissa McClelland, and 15-year-old daughter, Chloe Doucet-Winkelman, on the Garden Stage.
"I love the West Coast," Doucet said. "When I'm here, I always imagine myself playing at the Railway Club."
It was an intimate show for the young family, who were the last to perform on the Garden Stage.
Finally, it was time for the legendary John Mayall to get up on the Lake Stage. He enchanted the crowd with his keyboard and harmonica, while he was backed up by an electric bass and punchy drums.
Mayall introduced songs from his albums over his 40-year career. While he played Have You Heard About My Baby, from his mid-1960s album with Eric Clapton, several couples stood up to slow dance under a darkening blue and cloudy sky.
"I can't get enough of the blues," Mayall said.
Finally, k.d. lang graced the stage for the final performance of the day, with the Siss Boom Bang by her side. Women's undergarments were also flung onto the stage during her set.
Lang sang and flitted about the stage, while delivering a collection of her greatest hits and a cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, which she also performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
"Friends, you may feel a pulling sensation towards the stage - especially those of female persuasion," lang cooed to the crowd towards the end of her set.
The satisfying festival, perfect from finish to end, was met with a rising full moon as the festival goers left Deer Lake Park already wondering what next year's will bring.
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