ATHABASCA - Organizers of Athabasca’s Magnificent River Rats Festival are hoping this summer’s event will be the biggest ever, as they celebrate 25 years of music at the riverfront.
It has actually been 26 years since the first Magnificent River Rats Festival society president Heather Stocking told Athabasca town council March 1, but with the cancellation of the event due to COVID in 2020, the 2022 event will be the 25th iteration of the festival. And they’ve already booked headliners Finger Eleven for July 1, along with Danny Hooper as emcee for the two-day event.
“Finger Eleven has confirmed; they are one of the biggest bands in Canada. They’re very popular across many age groups I would say. We’re very excited, we’ve had a lot of early response when we posted that they were coming … I do think we will be sold out well before the festival,” said Stocking, who was joined by MRRFS vice-president Fred Minville.
The pair were before council to give a brief update and to request the riverfront parking lot be fenced off during the event, along with the stage area, as the society hopes to put on an expanded festival to celebrate the landmark anniversary.
“We don't want to block off the playground area, we would just like a bigger area. We've already confirmed the farmers’ market, and they are very excited to be with us July 1-2,” said Stocking. “And second, we want to move the beer tent back into that parking lot area just so that we can fit more people inside the quad where the stage is and then we want to have more children's activities.”
She added they are also interested in utilizing the area where the old Home Hardware building stood, now that it has been cleared of debris after it was destroyed in an August blaze, pending any development plans and an agreement with the owner.
In a call back to the very first festival, Stocking also announced Danny Hooper will emcee the event, just as he did in 1996 when it was held on a flat deck trailer at the old campsite where the Athabasca and Tawatinaw rivers meet.
“He's very excited to be back and we're excited to have him, I mean, he's THE emcee, as far as I’m concerned,” Stocking said.
Minville noted that along with his band 25 Cigarettes, about half of the lineup will be made up of local and regional talent from Fort McMurray, Plamondon, Slave Lake, Boyle and Athabasca. Local headliners, Delirium, who closed out the 2021 festival with a tribute to Metallica, have also announced they will be opening for Finger Eleven July 1.
Day 2 will also include a more country flair.
“We do have some bigger names on Day 2 as well,” Stocking said. “Nice Horse, Dirt Road Angels and then we're pushing a lot of the local bands; we're hoping to have the Battle of Bands again and stuff like that.”
Coun. Sara Graling expressed some concern there would be no access to the boat launch, as many like to watch the fireworks from their boats, but mayor Rob Balay didn’t think that would be too much of an issue.
“I think as far as the inconvenience for the river boats watching, this is a one-off and we do accommodate them when they have a specific ask,” he said. “I think they would probably be OK with this because it is technically the 25th anniversary, but of course we’ll notify them as soon as possible.”
