For decades, Willingdon Beach Park has served as a canvas for many of Powell River’s largest community events. Their organizers are like painters, with a palette that arrives in the form of food trucks, bleacher seats and 10-by-10 canopies. A few short hours are all it takes before a dew-covered strip of grass along the Westview waterfront becomes a colourful masterpiece for the entire city to enjoy. And then, of course, the canvas is quickly passed on to the next artist.
Ann Nelson’s turn holding the brush will come on August 15 and 16 when she kicks off another instalment of Arts Alive in the Park. “Putting on a successful outdoor festival with as many components as this has developed into its own art form,” she said. “Fourteen years of doing it, it gets demonstrably larger and stronger every year.”
That strength depends on participants, though, and Nelson points out that artists and musicians can be notorious for leaving things to the last minute. In turn, the usual trickle of late applications can often make it difficult as an organizer to ensure everyone has what they need to maximize their experience.
This year, Nelson is asking those who would like to sell or exhibit their work to contact her sooner rather than later. They may do so by calling 604.483.9345, emailing [email protected], or clicking the “Arts Alive” tab on Powell River Council for Arts, Culture and Heritage website.
Pending a few other factors, such as water and electricity, booth positions are first come-first served, as directed on site by Nelson, co-organizer Nina Mussellam and their crew. “You get down there and it’s like lining up at the starting gate—you let the chain down and people come in and start jockeying,” she said. Setup begins at 8 am on the Saturday and vendors are open to the public from 11 am and 7 pm. Security will be on hand to watch the tents overnight before the park reopens from 11 am to 6 pm on Sunday.
More than 40 artists and artisans participated in Arts Alive last year, with room for that number to double in size. Exhibition fees remain affordable at $20 per booth for the entire weekend and $10 for each additional artist under one canopy. For the members of over a dozen local arts organizations, they are waived entirely. The park’s electrical grid can accommodate “a couple more” food vendors as well, at a cost of $60 for both days or $35 for a single day.
Musicians will be treated to a fine array of PA equipment, a capable technician behind the board and as much water as they can guzzle in between songs. And while the outdoor setting is best suited to acoustic music and other genres that don’t require too many electronic effects, Nelson has accommodated a wide variety in the past. “The artists still need to schmooze without being overpowered by the music, but it’s there, it’s in the background,” she said.
“Our whole concept is of a village, and so [the layout] isn’t linear,” she continues. “It isn’t rows of tents or a single semi-circle around the perimeter. It’s concentric semi-circles so that you’re encouraged to wander in amongst all the tents, exploring every corner you’re going around and catching drifts of music as you go.”
