The Kootenay Country Music Festival entertained more than a thousand people over the weekend.
The intense weekend heat kept some of the crowds away during the afternoons, but as the days cooled down, visitors streamed into the Pass Creek Fairgrounds with over 1,000 people showing up to see headliner George Canyon Saturday night.
The event was organized by Travis Pangburn, of Pangburn Philosophy, who is a Kootenay native that has gone on to organize festivals and large-scale events across the province.
The event featured a SL 260 stage, which Pangburn explained is the same world-class stage that is used in outdoor festivals in big cities.
“I want to have state-of-the-art equipment for these festivals so the people of the Kootenays can have access and be entertained by state-of-the-art equipment and acts,” he said.
“[George Canyon] put on such an amazing show,” said Pangburn. “We had people crying, coming up to us and saying, ‘We just didn’t expect it to be this good.’”
“To have something this entertaining and inspiring in the Kootenays — I think it was a really special night for a lot of people and that’s why we are here, and why we are doing this, and why we will continue to do this,” added Pangburn.
Festival organizers shopped local for everything they possibly could.
“All the local suppliers have been amazing to work with… Selkirk Security, Trowelex — we couldn’t have done it without them,” said Pangburn. “We shopped local for everything, right down to the insurance.”
Pangburn operates under the philosophy of “let art inspire” and as for that aspect of the festival, he was extremely pleased with how the event went.
“So many children got inspired artistically last night and that is at the heart of what Pangburn Philosophy is,” he said.
Plans for another festival next year are already underway.
