ATHABASCA – The 27th edition of the Magnificent River Rats festival is in the books and while the week prior was a blitz for organizers, the June 30-July 1 event ran just about as smoothly as anyone could have hoped.
That week saw the construction of a new stage after the Athabasca River flooded, an artist drop out at the last minute, and a Canada Day thunderstorm that nearly cancelled the Battle of the Bands winners.
But by the time the final firework faded out that evening the roughly 550 people that attended had already forgotten about the hiccups.
“The weekend went very well, considering all the adversity we faced both behind the scenes and in public,” said Fred Minville in a July 5 interview. “This team has very high standards, so we’re already looking at what we can do better next year, and what we can refine in our system.”
This year the festival was split into two different genres; rock and blues bands took the stage Friday, while Saturday saw a mix of Americana folk and country musicians, capped off by the 2001 Canadian Country Music Awards Independent Male Artist of the Year Duane Steele, who took the stage at the festival for the first time in 25 years.
“It was fantastic, it was really nice to get to play here again. The last time I was here I was just getting started off my first record deal and they had me out, so it was nice to come back again,” said Steele after his set. “I know the day was a little shaky, but it turned out to be a great night, we had great weather and people just stuck in there and we had some fun.”
The country day was such a success that the organizing committee is already planning on returning to the genre next year, according to treasurer and secretary Chelsea Kirby.
“It went really good, despite the weather,” said Kirby in a July 5 interview. “The country day was a higher hit then the rock/blues day … it’s Athabasca, so we’re pretty into country so we’ll keep that for next year.”
Rain delays
The only hitch came right after the opening ceremonies on Saturday as Brave Viking founder Terell Jonasson had to cut his speech on mental health awareness short after lightning strikes shut the stage down.
Within minutes, rain was pouring down and the grounds had quickly emptied, leaving organizers asking, “What do we do now?”
For the production crew, it was simple; if your time slot gets rained out, that’s that. For Minville though, getting the two young acts on stage was important.
“We need to make sure that we’re fostering that next generation of artists and musicians, so trying to find that compromise was important. The older guys, Andy Delorme and The Torpedo’s compromising to give the kids some of their time slot was awesome,” said Minville, who called that a major success of the weekend. “Our team just pushed forward together, there were no emotional outbursts, everyone kept cool, kept calm, and rolled with the punches.”
Venues earns high praise
“It’s a beautiful spot, it’s right on the river, and the crowd was amazing,” said Tyler Whelan after his July 1 set finished.
Whelan echoed something that every band mentioned; it’s a beautiful spot to play music.
“It’s always great to come back and play in Athabasca,” said Darren Gusnowsky, guitar player for JayWalker. “It’s a beautiful area, the people are always kind, they’re clapping and having fun. We’ve been lucky enough to play it two or three times before, and we would 100 per cent come back and play it again if the opportunity arose.”
For the local acts, the scenery wasn’t a surprise, but they still enjoyed the experience of playing in front of a hometown crowd.
“It’s pride, it’s absolute pride to play in front of everyone,” said Adrien Chmil, a registered nurse and musician that was filling in with the Moose Mountain Boys for their July 1 set. “As a musician I want to share this particular music gift that I have with everyone, because it’s local, it’s rural, and everyone really knows everyone.”
“It’s nice to play in front of a local crowd, it’s a good town with everyone coming out for the shows,” agreed Brian MacNeil, also of the Moose Mountain Boys.
Potential changes
Minville made it clear that they aren’t planning to rest on their success as plans are already in place to change the format in 2024.
“We’re probably going to do Friday afternoon from like 6 or 7 p.m., all day Saturday, and then we’re hoping to bring back Cowboy Church on Sunday from 11 a.m., to 1 p.m., which will be open to everybody,” said the committee’s vice president.
It sounds like next year won’t feature the same split-genre set-up either. While Minville didn’t want to spoil the secret too early, he did allude that they were looking to have an overarching theme.
“We’re going to lay out our master plan for next year and pick a theme. What happens on the Friday is going to be tied into that theme, and we’re going to roll with it from there,” said Minville, who handled this year’s bookings alongside Charlie DeShane, who acted as an impromptu director of talent for the weekend, making sure that everything ran smoothly for the bands.
