Sea and be Scene

Posted: June 17, 2011

The eleven performance packed days that make up the bigger than ever Festival of Small Halls are underway.  Prince Edward Island is still reeling (and more than likely jiggin’) from "An Opening Fit for Kings" – kick off concert starring Meaghan Blanchard Band PEI, Le Vent du Nord QC, Irish Mythen AU, Richard Wood PEI, Storytellers (David Weale, Erskine Smith & Donna Morrissey), College of Piping Dancers (Cameron Francis, Katie Ramsay & Juliette Roberts).  It took place last night at King’s Playhouse, Georgetown PEI

But before the festival continues with its multitude of music and more - we wanted to catch up to the fella in charge of all this fun to get a bit of background and the inside scoop. 

What follows is our Q & A, as they say, with Director of the Festival of Small Halls -       Steve Horne

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SABS: First of all WOW! What a line up - 50 plus shows in more than 30 venues - how did you even begin to put an event like this together?

 Steve Horne: Well it takes hundreds of dedicated people to pull off an event such as this.

There are 34 rural community halls participating this year and each of them has a group of people who are passionate about their community hall, proud to host a Festival show and eager to welcome locals, other Islanders and folks ‘from away’ to their charming, historic halls.

The 2011 festival has 42 events (made up of 26 music shows, 11 storytelling shows, 4 Late Late Shows at the Lupin Valley Barn, and one old fashioned square dance).

The Festival was so well received in year one across PEI, that for year two and three - there are now many halls seeking to participate.

SABS: There's something so special about seeing an artist in a more intimate setting - love the "Small Halls" concept - how did it all start?

Steve Horne: Well…one story goes like this. It’s the one I like to tell.

I was attending Celtic Colours International Festival about five years ago. Late one night after seeing some earlier shows, Ray Brow and I were standing at the back of the Festival Club enjoying the atmosphere. It was Ray’s first Celtic Colours experience, and he was in awe of the event. I remember he turned to me and said, “We can do this in PEI. We have all kinds of little halls all over PEI.”

Prince Edward Island has a long tradition of every community having their own ‘community hall’. That germ of an idea at Celtic Colours led to a surveying and tracking of the halls on the Island, where we soon discovered there are actually more than 140 halls on PEI.

The halls, and the music enjoyed for generations by performers and audiences within them, was already woven into the culture of the Island, so networking them all under one traditional music festival just made sense.

SABS: There is such a variety of talent on this year's schedule - that must attract a wide variety of music fan too

Steve Horne: It is a combination of fans that enjoy the Festival of Small Halls experience. Fans from the local community are involved in their rural halls and want to see events held in the community succeed. And Islanders love to travel to another community’s hall to enjoy a terrific music concert.

And then there are tourists. Like in the first two years of the Festival, there are many tourists who are arriving in PEI this week while touring the Maritimes. They are seeking things to do – cultural things to do – and are blown away by the experience they receive in these rural halls. They experience professional concerts of music, storytelling and dance, plus the added benefit of the traditions of PEI’s rural halls. For some halls, it means biscuits, jam and tea….for others it’s ice cream and strawberries. For the tourists from away, it’s PEI at its best.

And this year – with our tourism marketing spread afar – we were excited to receive calls from across Canada and the United States (Alabama, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine) from people planning their vacations around our festival schedule. It’s very exciting to have visitors from Boston come into our office this week, saying the festival’s quality of artists just keeps getting better and better.

SABS:  There's no shortage of up and coming talent in this region - how have you included them in the Festival this year?

Steve Horne:Sure, there’s plenty of emerging talent from the Island new to this year’s festival. Katie McGarry comes to mind right away. Kate is a young singer-songwriter from Belfast area who is getting to perform in a show in her own community with a Grammy Winner (Gordie Sampson) and Grammy nominee (Liz Carroll), plus performs in our Festival’s songwriter’s Circle the next night with Gordie again.

There are also other emerging artists from the region, such as fiddler Kathleen Gorey-McSorley from New Brunswick. She is a rising star back to PEI after appearing throughout East Coast Music Week in Charlottetown this past April (including the Awards Show). She will be playing in her first Festival of Small Halls.

SABS: With 11 days jammed with musical goodness - do you have advice for anyone looking at the schedule and hoping to see as much as possible?

Steve Horne: The advice I have for the 11 days is…remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint. That’s the words of wisdom that the Celtic Colours organizers have passed along and it holds true.

For Islanders, I suggest taking in at least one music show, a storytelling show and a Late Late Show. Head to a community you’ve never been to before. You’ll be glad you did. For visitors, the weekends are jam packed with multiple, diverse shows, plus the Late Late Shows at the Lupin Valley Barn. So, if you think you’ve missed an artist from one show, chances are you’ll see them at the Barn.

SABS:  It's clear that Prince Edward Island - is the perfect spot for this festival - how much of the festival's continued success can be attributed to its picturesque host province.

Steve Horne: If you look at the map of PEI on our Festival Guide, you’ll see that a vast majority of our small halls are located along a coastal drive of PEI. This is still the undiscovered ‘jewel in our crown’. Along all our Island roads in June, you’ll see beautiful lupins, and rolling green hills, but it’s along the coast that many of our communities and halls are found.

I experienced one of these drives for the first time this past weekend while distributing posters and brochures to hall volunteers. My route led me ‘Up West’ where I drove west as far as you can go to the West Cape wind farms, and made a right turn when I hit the ocean, driving north along what’s called the West Cape Coast Drive…and that’s exactly what it is…a drive right along the west coast past St. Mark’s Hall in Burton, along up to the Palmer Road Hall near Tignish. Before taking in some of the Island’s rich traditional music and hall experiences, it’s well worth the time to take a road which may seem off the beaten path, but in reality, it’s THE best way to reach each evening’s show. I’ll be driving that route again for sure and hope many Festival visitors do too.

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 For more information on this year’s festival visit www.smallhalls.com

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