The Drumheller and District Music Festival committee has set the date, March 14 to 24, 2016 for the oldest music festival in Alberta. It is their 76th anniversary out of 86 years running. For 10 years they did not have the festival due to the war.
Each year hundreds of people sign up for choir, band, speech, dance and other fine arts. Any one can sign up to compete and do not have to be formal students.
Fine Arts students from Drumheller Valley Secondary School, Greentree Elementary and St. Anthony’s School will be participating in the festival.
Once the adjudicator recommends the presentation, they will compete at the provincial level and could be recommended again to the Nationals. Annually the festival gives out approximately 300 scholarships for a total of $6,000.
There are approximately 400 entries each year and Tracy Kakuk is the entry secretary. Entries will be accepted starting January 2 and the closing date is January 31, 2016.
Lynn Edwards explained that the committee is always looking for more help and if you are interested in joining the board, they would be thrilled to have you.
Amber Hodgson who takes care of the adjudicators will have their names in place very shortly.
The festival would like to see more entries in the area speech. This includes poetry, story telling and Bible recitation. Last year they had several Church leaders recite.
To join the board, please call Lynn Edwards at 403-823-7483. To enter in the festival, call Tracy Kakuk at 403-823-5544 or 403-820-2493