Prince George is a very community driven city, and Summerfest was one of the most excellent ways to prove it!
Local food vendors, local arts and entertainment vendors, local performing acts all visible and on point for the citizens of Prince George!
I have only lived here for a short amount of time, but every event, every festival, every show I attend there is a large locally inspired feel. Today was the most I have been surrounded by Prince George home grown talents at the same place at the same time.
The celebration of The Citizen’s 100th birthday kicked off the day long festivities, celebrating the in town coverage for a lengthy period of time. Employees old and new were in attendance for the ceremony and the cutting of the cake that served likely over 300 people!
Of course the cake was just a cherry on top of what was a day full of fantastic foods! Every local restaurant you could imagine was there to serve sample sizes of their savoury food. From Kelly Obryan’s to Nancy O’s, to Karahi King to Spicy Greens, you name it, they were there. THE AROMA I TELL YOU, THE AROMA! Absolutely indescribable and it made you feel like your other senses no longer existed!
The fields in front of City Hall were scattered full of Prince George local vendors selling their product while people chowed down on their grub! That was accompanied by the community stage which saw performances like Angles Ariel Fitness, and Judy Russell’s Mary Poppins performances! There was also a kid zone, and a butterfly release building and an army glider plane and the list goes on and on and on!
Prince George citizens Demmy G and Dave Patterson hit the main stage to kick off the musical portion of the day. Although it was simply guitar and vocals, the crowd was riveted by their performance and clung on to every word. Who were followed by locally formed Jack Van Somer band. This group has already been playing venues all around Prince George gracing the town with their talent!
The crowd was then taken back to the 70’s and 80’s with the performance by The Inversion. A groovy cover band who played songs from Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin and you could probably guess the crowd at this performance. Glad to reminisce on the glory days of the past! At the end of their set the crowd was pleading for one last tune!
Then came the big ticket band. The Chris Buck band who just a few weeks ago signed a deal with Sony! They are a country band, but dang did they like their cover songs! They had their own amazing hits, but followed it up with classics from the likes of Johnny Cash, to more modern stuff like Kesha, and even finished off their set with Blink 182! These guys know how to jam!
The one thing that added to the excellence was that airfare and accommodations for two to Victoria was given away thanks in part to Pacific Coastal Airlines and Accent Inns!
Prince George Summerfest had barely any walking room due to all the hustle and bustle of the crowd wanting to try everything that was there in the palm of their hands. Not too shabby when there is TOO Much to check out. I would give a 10 stars out of 5 if I had to rate Downtown Summerfest! I cannot wait to take part next year!