First Fridays brings summer concert series to Sun Peaks

Tourism Sun Peaks (TSP) has launched bigger and better summer programming after increasing its event budget this year.

The non-profit launched First Fridays, a summer event series, bringing live entertainment to town for the first Friday of every month from July to September. By increasing its events budget over 50 per cent, the group is hoping to increase economic activity and marketing of Sun Peaks.

The cost of events has also increased over the past year, contributing to the need for a higher events budget Arlene Schieven, president of TSP, said.

“The event costs have increased a huge amount and everything is more expensive, whether it’s a stage rental, porta-potties, insurance, medical – all of the costs that go around bringing these events here, they’ve all increased,” she told SPIN. 

The first event on July 7 brought Delhi 2 Dublin to the village for a free concert. The band’s Spotify bio describes their sound as “live-electronic, bhangra, hip-hop, world-pop.” The Vancouver-based four-person act has been together since 2006, fusing South Asian and Western music.

The day also included performances from Kinshira Entertainment, a group of performance artists who bring talents from aerial and circus skills, to fire and LED dancing, carnival games and more.

The next First Fridays event is slated for Aug. 4 on the Village Stage and live music for the day comes from The Yellow Brick Road Experience featuring Andrew Johns. The Elton John cover band plays from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Sun Peaks Centre. The day also includes an artisan market with various local vendors and more performances by Kinshira Entertainment.

The event Sept. 1 features live music by Tina Hebner Acoustic from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Shred Kelly from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

“We’ve really upped the caliber of music performers that we have trying to get names that will draw people in,” Shieven said.