Music, music, music
Thousands have listened to local musicians, as well as bands from south of the border and across the ocean, at Music in the Park this summer.
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Updated: August 12, 2009 5:11 PM
Henry Small isn’t surprised to get an e-mail from Europe, South America, Mexico — pretty much anywhere in the world.
That’s the kind of reputation Music in the Park has for musicians who plan to tour through Kamloops and aren’t just in the market for a big arena space.
And the man who has been organized the annual summer event at Riverside Park wishes he could do more.
But, for that to happen, he needs to see the budget that hasn’t changed in at least the last six years increased.
Not that Small’s complaining.
“Sheesh, yeah, it would be nice to have more funding,” Small said.
“I don’t want to talk about dollars and I’m not really complaining, but we could do so much more if we had more funding.”
The City of Kamloops and the B.C. Lottery Corporation sponsor the event and neither has raised its contribution in years.
“We get some great bands coming to it,” Small said, noting the Mexican reggae group Los Rastrillos, which performed last month, “had to have been the best band ever.”
Five Alarm Funk was another highlight for Small, who spends months every year filling in the 62 spaces on a whiteboard in his office that records who’s playing when.
A whiteboard is needed because, every year, those spaces will be filled, erased, refilled and, right up to the first show on Canada Day, might still be subject to changes.
But, in the past 18 years, Small had only one night completely cancelled — until this year.
One performer had to cancel at the last minute, but didn’t follow the directions all performers get from Small on how to relay that information to him.
So, with his cellphone in his pocket — and Small in Vancouver — the performer left a message on Small’s home phone.
The crowd gathered at the park — and nobody took the stage.
“But you know, in 18 years, to have that happen just twice is pretty good,” Small said, noting he’s always got performers on standby, hoping someone will cancel out and they can get their chance at the Rotary Bandshell.
The crowds have been large this summer and, while no head count is possibly, Small said he’s pretty confident the 2009 version has been “far better attended.
“We’re so weather-dependent, but I’ve really noticed it this year. We’ve had a larger attendance than any previous year, I’m sure.”
That’s another reason he wishes
his budget could be boosted a bit.
“You know, they want to make it better,” he said of the sponsor’s interest in the event, “and I want to make it better, but that costs — and everything costs more now than it did six years ago."
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