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Flin Flon to host summer music festival

A new music event could bring hundreds of people from western Canada to Flin Flon this summer.
Guitar

A new music event could bring hundreds of people from western Canada to Flin Flon this summer.

The newly minted Blueberry Jam Music Gathering is planned for the second weekend of August 2018. It is the brainchild of several locals who have attended, along with hundreds of musicians from across the prairie provinces, a similar gathering at a farm in Melfort, Sask. Next July will see the beloved gathering, which consists of an open mic format for musicians, come to a close at its current location after three decades. The week-long event brought 1,200 people together in 2017, and as the City of Flin Flon looks to increase the area’s tourism draw, the City feels a spinoff of the event in Flin Flon could be successful.

“The festival had a number of things that were key about it,” said Mark Kolt, a member of the Blueberry Jam committee.

“The focus was on the musicians, but anyone else was welcome to attend. There was no charge for camping, there was no direct charge for anything. It was just a big, free social gathering from their perspective.”

The setup for the open air event included two stages and several other jam spaces, along with two dance floors. It was a personal touch that saw the festival grow over time. Kolt relayed how the festival had a guestbook, and one of the organizers, who lived at the farm the festival was hosted on would go to each of the musicians and ask them to sign the book with their contact information.

“After Christmas, she would write personal letters to every one of them, inviting them to come back every year. They did, and this thing grew until it became quite a big deal,” said Kolt.

The Blueberry Jam committee has been in strong communication with organizers of the festival in Melfort, and the organizers have agreed to share their mailing list with the committee, something that could go a long way toward bringing a large volume of people to the event in Flin Flon.

While several details must still be hammered out, the Blueberry Jam is set to take place at the Flin Flon Tourist Park and Campground – a space that will contain both the festivities and camping, with the option of staying in a hotel close by.

“In the summer of 2017, there were 120 campers,” said Kolt of the Melfort festival.

“We’ve got 60 sites at our campground.”

The Blueberry Jam committee is hoping to see between 300 and 500 people come out for the first year of the event, which is intended to draw from places beyond Flin Flon.

“This was not simply the people within a 10 minute drive [of Melfort] that came,” said Kolt.

“You had many people coming from Alberta, other parts of Manitoba, quite distant parts of Saskatchewan. A key thing was that musicians are ready to drive a long distance to participate in something they feel a meaningful part of.”

Part of the success of Blueberry Jam hinges on musicians and participants being willing to travel up to an extra five hours – the distance from Melfort to Flin Flon. The committee also expects robust participation from the local music community.

Kolt said that so far, the Blueberry Jam has received universal support. Members of the committee will attend the final event in Melfort this summer to encourage musicians to travel to Flin Flon to take part in the spinoff festival.

Kolt added the Blueberry Jam Music Gathering will be a unique event in Flin Flon, in that it will attract an outside audience.

“[Trout Festival, Culture Days], they are not designed to bring people into town that don’t already have a connection to it. The homecomings have certainly brought in people who aren’t regular residents, but they are designed for people who are former residents who have family here. As important as that is, this is a venture that is designed to try to expand the horizons, and get Flin Flon known beyond our circle of ex-Flin Flonners,” said Kolt.

“We think there’s a realistic chance of having some success there.”

The Blueberry Jam Music Gathering will take place Aug. 10 to 12 at the Flin Flon Campground.

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