Rob Murray: I’m speaking with Sue Panning, Artistic Director for the Canmore Folk Music Festival. We can’t celebrate in Centennial Park this year, unfortunately, but you’ve announced some details on the Almost Festival Weekend. What’s going on over the August Long?

Sue Panning: After we ended up having to cancel because of COVID to keep everybody safe we were trying to figure out what we could do. So we pivoted to do some virtual stuff.

We’re going to do a whole bunch of stuff all weekend on Mountain FM, playing different artists who have been at the festival, and also featuring a bunch of the talented locals that we have.

On Saturday from 1 – 3 PM, we have  a retrospective on CKUA looking at performances that were taped at the festival and interviews that were done.

On Sunday, we have our virtual show featuring 13 artists, some of whom were going to be at the festival, and some of who’ve been part of the festival for years. We haven’t picked the time yet, but I believe we’re going to do it in the evening. The info is on our website. I contacted 13 different artists to submit a song and introduce the song, all related to their connection to Canmore and the Canmore Folk Festival. So whether it was a song that they wrote while at the festival, or it was inspired by the festival, or is something that somehow connects them. I’m really pleased with what people sent in.

Then on Monday, we’re releasing our two finale songs, which are the Mary Ellen Carter and. Four Strong Winds. They’re compilation videos of some of the artists that were at the virtual show, as well as some locals audience members just singing along. Featured in both the compilation and the virtual show are two locals, Amelie Patterson from Banff and Elk Run & Riot.  Elk Run & Riot were going to do a Festival Stage this year. They’ve been in the pub for so many years and we’re so happy to have them with us this year.

RM: Who are some of the other artists that are performing on the Sunday?

SP: Amythyst Kiah from the States, Celeigh Cardinal, Danny Michel, Irish Mythen, LOCARNO, The McDades, Shakura S’Aida, The Small Glories, and Jim Cuddy and his two sons, Devin Cuddy, and Sam Polley. I’ve watched the footage and it’s really fun and really neat to see the connection that everybody has to Canmore.

RM: There are a lot of organizations that help make the Folk Fest happen every year. Have those organizations stuck by you?

SP: Those that could certainly did. Our presenting sponsor this year was TD Bank and they’ve stuck with us, so the whole weekend is presented by them. EPCOR as well has stuck with us. And of course we have our longtime funders, which are the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, and the SOCAN Foundation.

We know it’s tough out there for a lot of the local businesses. For years and years, they’ve been so wonderful and generous with us, helping to feed the artists and provide snacks for volunteers. We really hope that people are doing takeout food, and I guess now that downtown’s open getting down there and supporting the local businesses, because they’ve been so wonderful to support us all these years.

RM: We’re two weeks out from the August Long Weekend. Normally at this time I bet you’d be crazy busy taking care of a lot of the last minute details. This year must be a lot different for you.

SP: It sure is a lot different. I wouldn’t say that it’s been a walk in the park. It’s been quite the challenge. First of all, when it all was starting back in March and April, Kenny our General Manager and I were on Zoom call after Zoom call with organizations across the country just trying to decide, okay, what are we going to do? Can we have a festival? Can we not? Once we figured out that we needed to cancel it was – how do we keep our ecosystem going? So we wanted to check in with our volunteer coordinators, with tech people and our sound company and the various sponsors, and just see what we could do.

It’s really, really hard on the music world. We did a live stream in partnership with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa from artsPlace with Amelie Patterson and John Wort Hannam which was really well received. That was a way for us and the National Arts Centre to try to get some money out to artists and out to the techs. Artists are able to pivot and some have done really well with pivoting to getting stuff online, but the tech crews are really struggling, along with a lot of small venues.

It’s been a lot of figuring out how to manage to keep things going and then figuring out what to do over the weekend. This idea kind of started with having some submissions from artists to do a poster for this year. Margo Petroff came up with this idea of the graphic for ‘The Great Paws’ – a bear standing in the middle of the field, looking back at the Stan Rogers Stage, and the field is empty. We kind of built this whole weekend around that idea.

RM: I’m looking at the graphic right now. It’s bittersweet, in a way.

SP: Oh yeah, it was so heartbreaking. I’m thinking a lot about all the coordinators that I’d be seeing so much of right now. This definitely would be such a hugely busy time. I was actually at a friend’s house for a birthday party and Paul Hatfield was there. He’s a longtime Canmore resident and he is part of our sign crew, putting up all the sponsor signs and the exit signs and everything at the festival. He was saying, “Wow, it’s just not the same.” He’s really going to miss seeing everybody. It really is like this family that comes together. All the little crews that work together have their own culture of being around the festival, and everybody has kind of their own little mini festival inside the festival. People are certainly going to miss that. I know I will.

RM: Other than making sure everything’s up and running for the Almost Festival Weekend, how are you going to be spending your first August Long Weekend off in, like, forever?

SP: There are a few people that are talking about having a little cul-de-sac party that my husband always lines up with a bunch of friends and a couple of board members. I’ve never taken part because I’m working, but they have this whole thing where they practice putting their tarps out and somebody brings coffee and somebody brings, you know, homemade waffles, and it’s a whole thing that I’ve never taken part in. So we’re talking about maybe doing that in our cul-de-sac, getting together physically distanced, and having some lineup games or whatever.

Filed under: Canmore, Canmore Folk Music Festival