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Thousands flocked to Castlegar’s Kootenay Fest

Close to 3,000 people turned out to the Kootenay Festival on Saturday.
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Close to 3,000 people turned out to the Kootenay Festival on Saturday.

Things started out “a little bit slow,” according to Audrey Polovnikoff, recreational and cultural programmer for the Castlegar and District Recreation Department, but as the weather brightened more and more people came out to celebrate.

“We had a touch of rain in the morning, pretty cloudy, but then it just cleared off and that’s when the people started coming in droves,” she said.

Things were so busy that two of the food trucks on site, X-Treme Grilled Cheeze and Tacos el Gringos, sold out of food.

“We’ll have to have more food trucks, more options, next year,” said Polovnikoff.

This year’s festival featured more vendors than ever before and Polovnikoff said she received plenty of positive feedback from them.

“How pleased they were with the organization of it, the public coming in and sales, and it was very pleasing for us as well,” she said.

Festival activities offered something for the whole family, including the Lion’s Penny Carnival for kids and all kinds of live entertainment.

Some of those who attended this year’s Kootenay Festival in Castlegar released lanterns to remember their loved ones and to celebrate their hopes for the future. The biodegradable lanterns could be purchased from the Castlegar Hospice Society and were filled with flowers, rather than candles, due to the fire ban.

A lot of volunteer time goes into organizing the festival and also into cleaning up afterward.

Polovnikoff is grateful to the Castlegar Interact Club for their help.

“They’re just so positive and so ready to work hard, and they did that for two days,” she said.

Work on next year’s Kootenay Festival begins in September and Polovnikoff says organizers will have something exciting up their sleeves.

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Kids grooved out to the Foggy Goggle Boys. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Peter Vogelaar, sand sculptor, and Alex Avelino worked on a sand sculpture of David Thompson, surveyor and map-maker, during Kootenay Fest. The sculpture took three days to complete and reused the same sand that Castlegar Sculpturewalk has used for previous sand sculptures. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Magician Leif David tried to teach one of his young audience members how to turn a white handkerchief red, but she kept ending up with bread instead, so Leif produced larger and larger magic wands to try to get the trick right. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Attendees browsed a number of vendor booths at Kootenay Fest. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Completely Creedence, a CCR cover band, headlined on the Kootenay Fest stage. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Suzanne Lehbauer (right), executive director of Castlegar Hospice, released the first lantern. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Biodegradable lanterns floated down the Columbia River. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Participants in the Hopes & Wishes Floating Lantern Release watched the paper lanterns make their way down the Columbia River. (Chelsea Novak/Castlegar News)
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Mayor Lawrence Chernoff was bubbling with enthusiasm. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)
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Face-painted and having a ball. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)
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Tom Carew is all smiles. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)
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Now that’s rock guitar god face, from Completely Creedance. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)
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Belly dancers from Mystic Dreams enjoy the day. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)
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The hula hoop never goes out of style. (Jen Small/Special to Castlegar News)