The final push is on to see who will take the prized for Searchlight, Canada's Best Music Festival. To give you a sense of our ten finalist, we sent out questionaires to the remaining festivals. We'll post them as we receive them, so please check them out, and don't forget to VOTE!

How long has Folk On the Rocks been in operation?
Celebrating our 30th year in 2010!

What is the mission statement of your festival?
To provide and promote unique, diverse, and collaborative performing arts for the benefit of our northern community, artists, and visitors.  

What makes your festival site special?
Set in a natural amphitheatre, on the sandy shores of Long Lake -  you can swim, relax on the beach, and enjoy the sounds of music until the wee hours under the lure of the midnight sun! The site has been built up over the years by our community. From its humble beginnings  we have grown to include six stages of programming  including our cultural stage where audiences are treated to some rare and unique performances by northern aboriginal artists.

Folk on the rocks brings artisans and vendors onto the site to add another layer of community involvement.  The site is also run over the FOTR weekend by more than 300 volunteers, who generously donate their time to become involved in the festival.

What is your favourite festival moment of the past?
One of the highlights each year is our special collaboration project. Where else would you be able to see Dene drummers collaborating with Japanese taiko drums, a harmonium and a dijerido? We make magic happen by bringing cultures together, it's beautiful!

However, one moment does stand out - in 2008, during the festival closing ceremonies the K'asho Go'tine Drummers closed out the festival while the rain began to fall and the audience formed a traditional drum dance circle. Our sound guys had to pull their equipment, but that didn't stop the drummers or the audience from continuing the celebration in the rain together!

Name one artist that is playing this year?
The lineup is still a secret, but we will be announcing one of our exciting performers at our Ice Jam concert in April and the final lineup will be made public on May 9th - you can check out our performers archives on our website.
 
Why should we vote for your festival?
The challenges of creating a music festival in the North have never deterred the community from supporting it - the festival is needed.  With over six months of darkness in the winter, FOTR is one of the shining lights of the summer months, with many people organizing their summer plans specifically around it.  Our festival is the biggest event of the year, bringing up musicians that may otherwise never make the trek up to the NWT and making them a part of our northern community!

[Photo by Pablo Saravanja]

posted by John Paolozzi on Mar 04, 2010