Senior band invited to national music festival

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The senior band from North Peace secondary school has been invited to attend MusicFest Canada in 2023. 

MusicFest is one of the biggest music festivals in Canada and will be held in Niagara Falls in May 2023.

The event is by invitation only, and though North Peace Secondary has attended before, this is the first time since 1999. 

Assistant band director Sabrina Brooks says that making the opportunity possible has been a team effort and that the students are very excited.

Last year, the senior band won a Grand Prairie competition, which qualified the band to attend MusicFest this year. 

“[The students] were extremely excited for the chance, not only the honour of the whole concept of nationals, but the chance to travel across the country because for some of them, they’ve never gone that far,” said Brooks.

To travel to the festival, the band must come up with $60,000.

The band is already hard at work planning fundraisers to help raise money for the trip. All the schools in the area have begun selling cookie dough, and the senior band has already planned a concert for February along with other fundraisers, such as a bottle drive. 

The band is also looking into getting letters written up in the hopes of reaching out to corporations for further fundraising.

“We’re at the point where we know we can do this,” Sabrina said.

“We have a dollar amount, and we started with the kids because that is very much something the program believed in.” 

Brooks says all the proceeds from the fundraising will go toward the trip.