What a weekend for Festival Nelson
By The Nelson Daily Sports
There were buses filling up parking lots.
There were parades of students frequenting sidewalks and restaurants throughout the Heritage City.
Despite being down a little in entrants, the 25th annual Festival Nelson proved to be another overwhelming success as nearly 1,000 kids from 35 schools from all over Western Canada and Washington State participated in two days of music.
During the weekend L.V. Rogers High School gymnasium and the Nelson United Church was bustling with energy as musicians performed and were adjudicated by judges.
The festival, under the guidance of co-chairs Karen Walgren and Keith Todd, is non-competitive competition that brings musicians together.
The festival also hosted instrument clinics in flute, clarinet, saxaphone, trumpet, trombone, lower brass, electric bass and drums at LVR.
This year Festival Nelson hosted concerts by Jude Davison and the Don Clark Sextet.
Festival history
Festival Nelson was launched in 1986 thanks to the vision and passion of former school district music coordinator Helene McGall.
Her dream was to create a non-competitive music festival that would provide a positive educational experience for music students.
The festival’s initial success was due in part to a solid line up of adjudicators and musical guest performers, a tradition that has continued throughout the years.
Festival Nelson has received glowing reviews from thousands of music teachers, adjudicators and students throughout the Pacific Northwest.
This is because of the non-competitive format, the quality instruction received from the adjudicators, the workshops and clinics and, of course, the evening concerts.
