Nicholas L. M. Allen
May 31, 2023
The Sun Dawg Festival organizers are looking to use this opportunity to raise awareness and funds for the 2024 festival.
Sun Dawgin’ at the Bellecrest Days on June 17 is all set to help fundraise next year’s Sun Dawg Festival according to the event organizers. They are looking to use this opportunity to raise awareness and funds for the 2024 festival after being unable to come up with a budget large enough for a standalone event.
The Sun Dawg Festival is the vision and mission of a small group of volunteers who have been planning an outdoor music festival for all genres of music for the last two years. They anticipate an exciting festival with significant acts and entertainment for July 2024. The group is comprised of Gord Gosse, Spencer Krkosky, Walter Gail, Pat Rypien, Brandy Fehr and Shane Painter
“If anyone is interested in joining the group, creating a fundraiser and sponsoring the group. Please call any one of these organizers,” said Krkosky.
They originally started with “great big ideas” before scaling back the event and looking at their budget more closely.
“We were looking at a budget that we were never going to be able to accomplish, but I think having scaled it back we’ve accomplished a lot this year,” said Rypien.
They still frequently get asked what the Sun Dawg festival is, so they want to promote what they’re doing.
“We’ve met with the Bellecrest society, and they gave us their stage. They’ve been kind enough to include us on their program so this is our second chance at promoting local bands and giving everybody a chance to see what they’re all about,” added Rypien.
Although this will not be like the festival of old, they are hoping to build on it each year.
“They used to get bands together and were very successful doing that in years gone by. It kind of just faded into the woodwork and now we’re trying to revive this and hopefully bring some talent to the Crowsnest Pass and make some money for our group,” said Rypien.
They said their mission is to promote live music and local artists from the Crowsnest Pass with the proceeds going back into projects in the Pass.
“We’re taking baby steps here to get to the big prize so we’re looking for volunteers. If there are people out there that would like to come and help us please give us a call,” added Krkosky.
Tickets are available for $10 a person and will be available at the door if there are any remaining. Tickets are available at Copy Magic or by contacting any of the volunteers. The admission fee for kids 12 and under will be free and the event starts at 5 p.m. and runs to 10 p.m.