Rotary Music Festival heads downtown to a pair of local churches as the annual showcase gets underway Monday.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Rotary Music Festival officially begins Monday, once again fostering the arts within local youth.
This year begins with the speech category at St. Barnabas Church downtown, as the festival has moved locations after 40 years at Medicine Hat College. This year, events will be held at St. Barnabas Church as well as St. John’s Presbyterian Church.
“It basically came down to finances,” said executive director Delynne Lorentzen. She says the change has proven to be an unexpected blessing however, as they have been able to connect with the businesses in the downtown area.
“It’s been wonderful. Both churches have a ton of volunteers that work with us every year in the festival, and the community has been so supportive,” said Lorentzen. “We also partnered with downtown businesses this year, so we have 11 different businesses that have put advertisements in our program, and they’ve offered special discounts to the festival participants. It’s kind of a win-win situation.”
She hopes the new focus in the downtown core will introduce performers and their families to an area that they may not visit often, but she says hosts a great variety of things that many remain unaware of.
The number of performers is roughly consistent with previous years despite the change in location, though interestingly the number of choirs has nearly doubled.
A full schedule for the festival is available online at rotarymusicfestival.com. Lorentzen especially encourages residents to mark their calendars for the Rose Bowl, which will take place at 7 p.m. in the Medicine Hat College Theatre on Mar. 20.
“Rose Bowl is kind of a little snapshot of, kind of the best of the best. So one person from each discipline is performing. So we can have up to nine performers,” said Lorentzen. “It’s just a really special evening, a really nice concert, and it’s free.”
