Second annual Cantando Music Festival makes stop in Nelson
The line of tour buses clogging the streets of Nelson during the weekend were due to the second annual Cantando Music Festival happening at Selkirk College Tenth Street Campus.
Concert and jazz bands joined choirs from Edmonton to Vancouver at the three-day event.
Cantando Festival Director Dennis Prime told The Nelson Daily Nelson used to host a Music Festival in the past, but event organizers decided not to continue.
Prime contacted the former executive to discuss the Cantando people coming to Nelson.
“The Nelson event had a lot of out of town bands attend, and Nelson being a nice place, thought it would be good to host our own event,” Prime explained.
Prime then contacted Selkirk College as host facility and everything fell into place.
Cantando Music Festival hosts hundreds of participants, as seen by the public sightseeing in Nelson during the weekend.
The Cantando Festival began Thursday evening with a terrific brass quartet, Square Revolution, performing.
Students were put through workshops Friday and Saturday. Some bands also performed at various schools in Kootenay Lake School District.
The Selkirk College Faculty performed Friday while Saturday was reserved for All City Band Society.
Nelson is the third stop on the Cantando Music Festival circuit.
The other stops are in Edmonton, Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops and Whistler.
The 2016 Cantando Music Festival stop in Nelson is set for April 7-10.