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Musicians travel from near and far to play Hay Days 12 Tuesday June 30 2015 ARTS CULTURE FESTIVALS Your hard work and dedication helps our communities grow Congratulations Northern Grads of 2015 Your hard work and dedication helps our communities grow Mtis Local 125 would like to congratulate all graduates of Athabasca Delta Community School Our community grows with your success By DALI CARMICHAEL AneclecticmixofsouthernsoundsandNorth- erntalentwillcollideonstageatthesixthannual Hay Days festival in Hay River this weekend. After facing several years of transition - in- cluding moving the Hay Days location to the Hay River beach last year - the bourgeoning festivals board of directors decided to make the music their priority for 2015. At last years festival we just felt the mu- sical line up was kind of shrinking. We knew this year we needed to put an effort into that and to get more musicians coming into town said Hay Days board president Ken Latour. The board feels they have succeeded. On top of having musicians from different regions of the NWT the Twanging Country Band is trav- eling in from High Level to play while Fort Smith favourites Veronica and Dave Johnny - performing as VJDJ - and newcomers Sun K are heading in all the way from Ontario. Im really happy to see the bands that have been coming are all coming back so we have allourmusicalfriendsfromaroundtheregion coming-thatsterricLatoursaid.Werevery happytobegettingabandfromHighLeveland were very happy to be getting the two bands fromOntariobecausethatsshowingthateven though were still an amateur festival not pay- ingpeopletoperformwerestartingtodevelop someconnectionsoutthereandhopefullywere getting better at bringing those groups in. Former NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi is another prominent performer on the list. WithallthestuffthatsbeenoutaboutTruth and Reconciliation in the news and listening to some of those stories listening to Stephen Kakfwis music again has been a very power- ful experience for me this year Latour said. I dont think I really got his music - and I prob- ably still dont get it all - but hes someone Im really looking forward to hearing. Getting ready for growth The small board of organizers which also includes vice president Jared Monkman di- rector Bailey Mackie and treasurer Anne Bou- dreau are working hard to make Hay Days an event that celebrates all kinds of art from musicians to visual artists to crafters. Last year was the big transition that was moving it down to the beach Latour said noting over 400 people attended last years Saturday shaker. We succeeded but we were almost run off our feet last year we were al- most too successful. It was a real strain on us just to keep things owing well. To eliminate this problem they have made a few more organizational changes to the bill. Wewantedstrongerorganizationandmore volunteers just so the whole thing ows well Latour said. Last year there was a gap from 600 p.m. to 900 p.m. and it just shut the site down at supper time. Weve gotten rid of that so we can have one continuous day. ForthersttimethefestivalwillusetheHay River Museum as its Friday night venue. We actually have a spot that is desig- nated as a kind of quieter easier listening music for that night Latour said. Typically Friday night is just in the bars uptown. Not everyone wants to sit in a bar with loud music but would still like to take part in the festival so thats a key piece. About 10 artisans will be included in the festivities this year though in the future the board would like to focus on bringing in more visual artists and crafters to sell their wares and run workshops at the festival. The music is such a big part of this and we need to make the arts a bigger part as well Latour said. We are trying to be more than a music festival and we dont want the art- ists to get lost in all the talk of rock and roll. But for Hay Days 2015 he is just ne with letting the music take centre stage. Were a small board but its pretty amaz- ing what were accomplishing Latour said. Hay Days 2015 line up Sun K Tour de Mac Grey Grit Mary Caroline LOL Sweet Stephen Kakfwi Water Linda Duford Twanging Country Band VJDJ Veronica Johnny Dave Johnny Ian Rossiter and the Hot Club of Zama Blue Rockin Daddies Shane Daniels Band Villains of the 1990s Priscillas Revenge Trash the Monument Up against the wall Chevy Beaulieu PhotoScottClouthier Audiences gather at the 2014 Hay Days festival held on the community beach for the rst time last year.