The sixth annual Arts on the Fly Music, Dance and Arts Festival is coming up in Horsefly this Friday, July 8 and Saturday, July 9
The festival begins Friday evening with opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 1 a.m. the following morning with performers scheduled in for performances of about an hour each.
Jesse LeBourdais kicks things off with Indie folk with a punky edge.
Following in order are Saritah with divine soul and world music; Jesse Dee & Jacquie harder-hitting folk/rock with jazzy stops; Bill Durst with out of this world blues; Drum & Bell Tower with Indie dance grooves.
Saturday, July 9 the festival resumes at 11 a.m. and runs right through until about 1 a.m. Sunday morning.
Masters of ceremony for the festival will be Tim Readman, Kris Demeanor, Pharis Romero, Carmen Mutschele and Ellie Seelhof.
During breaks on mainstage performances there will be performances on the side Tweener Stage by: Karyn Ellis, John Macleod, Giorgi Pritchard, The Horsefly Follies, Walter Hlookoff, Jenny’s Jam, Carmen and Dena, Cole Patenaude, The Arthropods, Chelsea and Jay Goddard, Orin Barter and many more.
There will also be special performances by the Roaming Diva and Fire Dancer Donnalee Davidson.
The main performance schedule begins with a Songwriters in A Round jam and collaboration session with Geoff and Cole Patenaude, Karyn Ellis and more from 11 a.m. until noon.
The program continues as follows
•. Troy Forcier, finger on the pulse folk/ rock: 12:10 to 12:40 p.m
• Bernadette Ducharme, local gospel/country: 12:45 to 1:15 p.m.
• Seth and Shara, groovy fusion with Latin/reggae twist: 1:30 to 2:15 p.m.
• Jeremy Nicholson, hip hop/rap: 2:30 to 3 p.m.
• Belmont Avenue Beat, all that Jazz: 3:15 to 4 p.m.
• In the Works Dance Studio, creative dance and more: 4:15 to 5 p.m.
• Marin Patenaude, bluesy folk and more: 5:15 to 6 p.m.
• Kris Demeanor, very funny bard: 6:15 to 7 p.m.
• Jason and Pharis Romero, dreamy old time country: 7:15 to 8 p.m.
• Ari Neufeld, oozes music: 8:15 to 9 p.m.
• Clancy Wright and the Silverado Band Cariboo country favourite: 9:15 to 10 p.m.
• Tim Readman Band and Eire Born Irish Dancers, Irish/Celtic: 10:20 to 11:20 p.m.
• Aurora Jane, fearless Australian funk: 11:40 to 12:50 a.m.
Several workshops will also be held in the community hall Saturday.
From 12: 30 to 1:30 p.m. Pharis Romero will lead a vocal workshop on old time gospel singing.
From 2 to 3 p.m. Air Neufeld will lead a workshop on singing, performing and spontaneous creativity.
In his workshop Neufeld investigates spontaneous creativity and how it is affected and inspired by the energy of a group and how it can create unique movement.
Karyn Ellis will lead a songwriting workshop from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
She will work with the group to create a group song in 60 minutes.
From 5 to 6 p.m. the Eire Born Irish Dancers will conduct a workshop in Irish dancing.
Program is subject to minor changes.
Advance tickets are available at The Gecko Tree and The Bean Counter Cafe in Williams Lake.