Peace River North Festival ‘went really well,’ says organizer

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Peace River North Festival Association President Margaret May says this year’s festival in Fort St. John was very successful.

“We get competitors who come from all over the region, and as far away as Quesnel and into the Peace River part of Alberta, to participate,” May says. “It went really well this year.”

The festival ran from April 12th to 21st, with dozens of dancers, musicians and other performers from all over the region and beyond travelling to the Energetic City to compete.

“It’s a great opportunity for kids to get, you know? They’ve worked all year at their craft, and they get to come and perform and show it off in front of audiences, and it’s something they look forward to all year.”

Fort St. John was also selected to host this year’s Performing Arts BC Provincial Festival, which will run from June 2nd to June 6th.

According to May, Performing Arts BC has struggled to find communities willing to host the event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“It requires a lot of volunteers, and it requires some funding, so it takes a bit of time to build up those volunteer bases and those funding sponsorships again since COVID,” May said.

“So, they actually came to us and said, ‘Would you please do it again?’ We hosted the provincials in 2016, so it hasn’t been a long time since we did it before.”

According to May, the participants are chosen by adjudicators from among the winners at 34 different qualifying festivals, including the Peace River North Festival of the Arts.

“We are sending five music delegates and ten dance delegates selected by the adjudicators [to the provincial festival].”

May also says the festival association is recruiting volunteers to help run the provincial event in June and that anyone interested should contact the association through Facebook or by email.at peacerivernorthfestival@gmail.com

To view a complete list of the winners at the Peace River North Festival of the Arts, look below: