Edmonton Folk Music Festival - Wednesday

Traditionally, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (EFMF) only runs from Thursday through Sunday. Starting last year, however, they added a Wednesday night endowment concert in order to raise additional funds to support this ongoing festival.

Last year we saw Sarah McLachlan and Tracy Chapman.

This year it was Van Morrison. It was good, but his show was much more chill than I was expecting. He ended things with Gloria, which got everybody up and moving. Yay!

I rode the Amsterdam down to the festival. The EFMF happens on a series of ski hills in Edmonton's river valley. The site is amazing and sitting on that hill always makes me feel happy about living in Edmonton. The view is great and there is something about music and the outdoors that strikes an excellent equilibrium.

Some people feel really intimidated by the hill to get there and back. Going down is undoubtedly tons of fun. Coming back up really isn't as bad as people think. I take a different route back up which is a steady, gradual climb.

And since it's an outdoor music festival I forego all glamour and sophistication. It's just jeans, canvas shoes, and cotton tops.

I put my picnic blanket in the basket along with my hoodie.

And everything else went in the Po Campo. Since this was just an evening concert I was traveling pretty light.

Oh, but I did attach a tiny LED flashlight to it. A small festival customization. This will come in handy over the course of the weekend.

Once we locked up and got inside we found a place on the hill. There is a lottery system for laying tarps down but we decided to just show up tonight and sit in the gaps between tarps. We were quite high up on the hill but still had a great view of the stage.

We were also famished. So we moved down into the food field. Lines were long, but worth the wait. I ate at India Palace tonight. Butter chicken, chickpeas, samosa... yum.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people see my maison scotch shirt and wonder why I would love something like this. Admittedly it doesn't photograph all that well and it's not glamourous. It's really well made and has lots of little details. Good stitching. The fabric is amazing and breezy so it can be totally humid and disgusting, and I can still wear this thing and feel ventilated and cooled.

Wearing it makes me feel like I am a little jeune fille going out to pick wildflowers or something. It's that bohemian-pastoral attribute that I enjoy with this top. As a result I've been wearing it constantly.

Maison Scotch avec Po Campo.

When we were done with dinner we headed back up to our spot. People were all getting ready for the show.

People also have unique ways of marking where their spot is so they don't forget.

Folk fest is about great music in the great outdoors. But it's also about reconnecting with old friends.

Kris and Sable.

The sunset over Edmonton.

People light candles for illumination and for warmth (but tonight wasn't cold).

And Sable and I rode back to the bungalow after the show. It's actually the most pleasurable way to get to the festival. Well, it's my favourite way.

The bus service is very convenient too but I don't prefer being all crammed in. I prefer the fresh air in my lungs and the door to door access. I figure these are amongst the last beautiful summer days in this city. Might as well enjoy as much of it as I can.

We may end up doing a combination of bike and bus as the weekend progresses and we learn to navigate our way through with Dexter. We're lucky to have options.

Looking forward to the remaining weekend of friends and music!

Oh, and here is Raffaella's video of last night.

van morrison at folk fest from fella on Vimeo.