Harmony Arts Festival 2011 (West Vancouver)

You probably know that I love my city (Vancouver). That said, I’m definitely a fan of the North Shore, and especially West Vancouver. The 21st annual Harmony Arts Festival, presented by Odlum Brown Limited, is a festival that transforms the West Vancouver waterfront into an open-air celebration of the arts. Visitors can enjoy art exhibitions, artist talks and demonstrations, the Remax Studio Tours, WV Optometry’s Cinema in the Park. There will be more than 50 distinct concerts, and a unique wine and culinary experience in the Wine Garden.

The Harmony Arts Festival 2011 will take place around Ambleside and John Lawson Park. More importantly: Most of the events are free to the public.. There will be a very broad variety of styles of music, strangely enough all styles that I love: rock, blues, jazz, classical music. I am hoping to be able to catch the festival with my Mom and probably Arieanna and Ianiv.

One of the biggest draws at the Festival are the BA Blacktop Sunset Concerts in John Lawson Park.

At 7:30 pm, every night of the festival, some of BC’s best musical talent will entertain a total audience of over 20,000 people. The dynamic and eclectic line-up for the 2011 Main Stage Series, sponsored by the West Vancouver Community Foundation, includes:

• Bobby Bruce’s Nearly Neil & The Solitary Band (July 29): Top tribute artist
• Cousin Harley (July 30): Premier roots, swing and rockabilly group
• The Paperboys (July 31): Mexican Son Jarocho mixed in with Irish Jigs and Reels and a good dose of Country and Bluegrass
• We Are The City (August 1): From Kelowna, one of the most exciting and unpredictable forces in the Canadian music scene today
• Leora Cashe Quartet (August 2): A soulful vocal and jazz quartet
• Greg Sczebel (August 3): Juno Award Winner, with an innovative blend of pop, rock, R&B and old school soul
• Tanga (August 4): Vancouver’s premier Afro-Latin dance band
• Headwater (August 5): One of the finest acoustic roots groups around
• Aaron Nazrul & The Boom Booms (August 6): Six-piece Latin-soul-funk-rock-reggae band
• Gary Comeau & The Voodoo All Stars (August 7): Closing the Festival, hot and spicy New Orleans rockin’ roots & blues group.

There will be an expanded line-up of music (the Pacific Arbour Garden Stage, located at the foot of 15th Street and Argyle Avenue). Dinner hour bands will be featured throughout the two weekends of the festival starting at 5:45 pm, and there will be also 6 late evening “After Sunset” concerts at 9 pm. These concerts feature:

• ABRA Cadabra (July 29): The music and magic of ABBA
• The Dustin Bentall Outfit (July 30): Playing alt-country songs influenced by the likes of Neil Young, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Wilco
• Babe Gurr (July 31): Roots/blues and ethno world-fusion sounds
• Jeremy Fisher (August 1): Canadian folk-pop troubadour
• Jim Byrnes (August 5): JUNO Award Winner and smoky bluesman
• Adam Woodall Band (August 6): One of the North Shore’s most celebrated musicians

Alongside with the music, The 2011 Harmony Arts Festival features the newly expanded Art Market sponsored by North Shore Tourism, with a fantastic line-up of artists and artisan works selected by the jury team; Tam Irving, Celia Pickles, and Sylvia Tait, all well-renowned international artists in their own right. The North Shore Tourism Art Market takes over Argyle Avenue for the first time, and will be debuting from July 29 to August 1, 2011.

They have added two new special ticketed events this year to the line-up. Each event is only $75 to attend and tickets can be purchased at the Harmony Arts Festival website.

• Artist’s Circle Evening Celebration (August 3) an evening celebrating Gordon Smith’s contributions and accomplishments to the community. Join Gordon, Doug Coupland and other special guests in sharing stories of friendship and to celebrate excellence in the visual arts.
• Best of the West (August 4) an evening of unparalleled culinary experience on the pier at the bottom of 14th street in West Vancouver. Sample culinary delights from 10 premium North Shore restaurants while sipping wine from 10 BC wineries.

For more information about the Harmony Arts Festival call (604) 925-7268 or visit their website. I hope my readers will be able to catch this wonderful festival that promises a lot of fun and excitement. Frankly, with so much to do here, it’s hard to not be excited about a summer that is starting to show a bit nicer!

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