Best of the best will square off in music festival’s Rose Bowl

By ANNA SMITH Local Journalism Initiative on March 13, 2025.

asmith@medicinehatnews.com

Friday evening will see the 2025 Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival’s Rose Bowl, in which the best of the best from each category will compete and show off their musical prowess.

“The best performer from each discipline will compete against the other performers, and they have a chance to win a $1,000 scholarship,” says executive director Delynne Lorentzen. “And, of course, the Rotary Rose Bowl, which is a big trophy. And then the runner up, of course, also wins a big award.”

This year is especially significant, says Lorentzen, as this year marks 70 years of the Rotary Club’s sponsorship of the festival.

“It’s gone incredibly well,” says Lorentzen. “We had a very busy first week. We did senior vocals, junior piano and speech. We’ve just finished the band workshops, brass and woodwinds were (Wednesday), and we still have junior vocals, strings, guitar and senior piano.”

She says, including group entries, there are just under 1,200 youths participating in the festival this year, with everything leading up to the Rose Bowl on Friday, which starts at 7 p.m.

“I think one thing that always interests me is when you if you talk about having 1,200 kids, and you think of all their parents and grandparents, then all of a sudden you’re up to 5,000 people, which is a pretty good percentage of our city, so it really has an impact on the community,” said Lorentzen. “Come see the Rose Bowl, it’s the best of the best. It’s going to be a great show this year.”

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