The first annual Route 19A Music Festival gets underway for two weekends starting Aug. 30 in Parksville and Qualicum Beach.
The family friendly events include concerts, a dance and musical storytelling. In addition to the ticketed shows, there will be two free matinees with local professional musicians and emerging young artists.
A double billing of Auntie Kate & the Uncles of Funk and Bijoux du Bayou will kick things off at the Qualicum Community Hall on Aug. 30.
Next up is a free afternoon show that will feature gypsy jazz trio String Fever, folk duo Zach and Jim and vocalist Sylvia Humble in Heard Square (outside of the Mulberry Bush Bookstore) in Qualicum Beach on Aug. 31. Then in the evening that same day will be Victoria's Celtic/rock band Hounds of Cuchulain in Qualicum Community Hall.
The Sunday night (Sept. 1) concert will be the Juno Award-winning Blue Moon Marquee, fresh off their latest album Scream, Holler & Howl.
The next weekend the music shifts to Parksville, starting with Still Crazy: the Paul Simon Songbook at Knox United Church on Sept. 6. This tribute to the music of Paul Simon features Helen Austin, Doug Cox, Tom and Kalissa Landa and Mick Sherlock.
Memorial Plaza will host a free show with three promising young Vancouver Island artists on Sept. 7. The concert featuring DJ Connor, James Vickers and Malakai will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Vickers, nephew of Roy Henry Vickers, is already making a name for himself after taking up the guitar during the pandemic.
“He is going to be a star," said Valerie Dare, one of the festival organizers. “He’s a blues rock guitar player and just released his first EP — he’s 14.”
The music will wrap up with a Saturday evening performance of "Once Upon a Fiddle" by storyteller Rachel Dunstan Muller accompanied by violinist Nicholas Ross at the McMillan Arts Centre (MAC).
Tickets are available through the MAC online box office.
Festival organizers Dare and Sherlock hope to expand with more venues and artists next year, when the event will be eligible for more funding sources such as the BC Arts Council.
Organizers are thankful for support from the Province of BC, the Parksville Qualicum Community Foundation, Parksville Downtown Business Association, the Regional District of Nanaimo and Coastal Community Credit Union.
Music festival schedule:
Qualicum Beach
Aug.30 - Auntie Kate & the Uncles of Funk/Bijoux du Bayou - 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. – $35
Aug. 31 - String Fever/Zach and Jim/Sylvia Humble - 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. - free
Aug. 31 - Hounds of Cuchulain - 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. - $30
Sept. 1 - Blue Moon Marquee - 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. - $40
Parksville
Sept. 6 - Still Crazy - The Paul Simon Songbook, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. - $40
Sept. 7 - Party on the Plaza, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Free
Sept. 7 - Once Upon A Fiddle - 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. - $30