A festival of music and art will be returning to the region this summer for the second year in a row after a brief absence amid a carousel of cancellations.
The Arts on the Fly Festival is set to take stage once again in Horsefly for its 15th edition on July 12-13. The family-friendly and nature-oriented celebration of the arts known for its intimate vibe attracts people from all around the region and gets the whole community involved.
The festival was founded in 2005 by a group of mothers who were looking to bring music and arts to their little town and to showcase the importance of the Cariboo’s beauty and history. After a three-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent fallout, the festival returned last year with a revamped, one-day event that focused more on highlighting local acts who hadn’t been able to perform much in recent years.
This year marks a return to the prototypical multi-day festival, with a long lineup of musical talent from all over the province bringing a diverse range of genres to the solar-powered outdoor stage on the bank of Horsefly River. There will also be a second stage in the Community Hall to keep the music and events flowing.
There will be a KidsZone, which will include a Story Walk to the salmon spawning channel and rock throwing into the river. Children under 12 get in free.
READ MORE: Horsefly students help launch StoryWalk season
“Dancing kids make us so happy,” the society stated. “We strive to make them happy too with special performances they can be part of [and] art and nature experiences.”
On Saturday, there will be a vocal workshop in the Hall with mother-daughter duo This Mama Tried from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. followed by a guitar workshop with Big Fancy from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will also be workshops, plenty of vendors and a family square dance.
After numerous cancellations over the past few years due to a variety of reasons, the Arts on the Fly Festival Society felt it would be better to build back up at a slower pace.
“We thought it would help us and them,” vice president Jenny Noble said of the more intimate one-day festival which returned last year.
Before its return last year, the festival was a huge success in 2019, as it saw up to 1,100 patrons attend prior to the pandemic and post-pandemic events wiping out the following three straight festivals. The festival before that one was the first in a three-year stretch, as 2017 and 2016 were both cancelled due to wildfires and a society board hiatus respectively. The 2022 edition was also cancelled due to low ticket pre-sales and a lack of camping options.
READ MORE: Arts on the Fly’s new direction reaps success
“While the festival has grown over the years, the focus since the pandemic was the help local musicians get back into the swing of things,” the society stated.
2024 Arts on the Fly Artist Lineup
10 DAY NOTICE, 13 Moons, Bats & Dao, Beaver Valley Symphony, Bernadette Ducharme, Big Fancy & The Shiddy Cowboys, Broken Hill Band, The Burying Ground, Cockerill Brothers, Conor Gains, D9, Danny Bell, Dream Heavy, Entangados, Harmonic Tonic with Chanti, The HubCaps, Interstellar Jays, Milltown Philosophers, Pharis & Jason Romero, Rhododendron, Richard Garvey, Saltwater Hank, Scouts Honour, Shannon O’Donovan, Simbiyez Wilson, This Mama Tried, Wax Mannequin, Wayne Lucier, Zonnis
