The much-anticipated Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival is just around the corner, and this year it features top-notch headliners such as Western Canada's own k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang.
On Aug. 13 at Deer Lake Park from 2 to 10 p.m., international staples in the blues, rock, alternative and country scenes will alight the stage for the event hosted by both the City of Burnaby and Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
"I think the line up we have and the headliners k.d. lang and John Mayall is phenomenal," said Julie-Anne Slade, the Shadbolt's special events officer. "We haven't always had a list in terms of performers featuring a Canadian female artist who sang at the Olympics."
Besides the two major headliners, the festival will showcase Ireland's Imelda May; Luke Doucet, who's toured with Sarah McLachlan on the Lillith Fair circuit; Matt Anderson, a grassroots performer from New Brunswick; The Secret Sisters, who recorded in Nashville at the famous Blackbird studios; Victoria, B.C.'s own Current Swell; and Ben Rodgers and the Black Oats, a four-piece Country/Americana band.
Apart from the influx of talent from across the nation and the globe, the park
itself will offer other forms of entertainment as well for the whole family - including a food fair, artisan market and kid's arts activity zone.
"There will be an area called 'Art's Home'," Slade said. "Art is the mascot for the Shadbolt."
The kids' zone is open from 3: 30 to 7: 30 p.m., and kids will have the opportunity to make their very own cardboard guitars.
"We do it every year," she said. "Kids love it."
Art's Home will also feature a few performances from the local group Pangaea Arts called Stories on Wheels, which is a street theatre storytelling act, according to Slade.
The artisan market will feature a vast array of handmade crafts, often wearable, such as jewelry, ceramics, arts glass, exotic henna tattoos, carvings made from leaves, artisan honey and much more.
"There will be a variety of festival food options, but that hasn't been released yet," Slade noted. "Watch out for the pullout on the website that will list the options soon."
The stage this year will be the same one from before as well, according to the Shadbolt's production manager, Jonathan Ryder.
"It's a big fold-out stage that gets pulled in on a truck," Ryder explained. "We put the gear on it and then lift it all up. There's also a big banner on the top. . It's a standard travelling stage."
Apart from planning to have a lot of fun in front of the gigantic stage, participants should also think ahead and thoroughly read what's not allowed at the festival.
For instance, parking in the vicinity is limited, and festival-goers are encouraged to use alternate forms of transportation or ride the free Lynch Bus Lines shuttle from BCIT.
There's also a road closure notice from noon until 10: 30 p.m. that will be implemented by the RCMP on Deer Lake Ave., between Sperling Ave. and Century Park Way. Note that bicycles will not be permitted in the park, but racks will be set up near both gates.
"The festival organizers highly recommend reading through the guidelines to avoid disappointment and not cause an inconvenience," Slade told the Burnaby NOW.
Such rules include a ban on allowing professional cameras (defined as ones with a detachable lens), umbrellas, pets (unless necessary), alcoholic or canned drinks.
"At the end (of previous shows), we inherit 60 umbrellas, so we won't let them in," Slade noted. "Cans will get confiscated."
She stressed that reading the guidelines online beforehand will prevent any misunderstanding about what's allowed through the gates and what's not.
The two gates (main and west) both open at 1 p.m. The main gate closes at 9 p.m., and the west gate will close at 6 p.m. for allowing entrance.
For all information and details about gate guidelines to seating check out www. burnabybluesfestival.com/plan_2011.htm.
Tickets can be purchased on the web; they're $65 each or $180 for a party pack of four. On the day of the event, tickets cost $70 and are for sale at the main gate only, but the party pack will be unavailable.
Children 12 years and younger are free at the gates, but need adult accompaniment.
