Three guitar players and a drummer on a stage
Arts

Cortes Island summer music festival cautiously revives as pandemic restrictions ease

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Editor’s Note: Greg Osoba has played with bands Six Foot Johnson and with the Mark Brotten and Rex Weyler ensembles in past Lovefest events.

An annual summer music festival, in various forms, on rural Cortes Island has been an institution for decades. It’s been organized by various people and set in numerous locations over the years. The events range from full weekend to single day celebrations.

Along with local and visiting musical acts, crafts and food vendors display their wares and a local festival with its individual character reflecting the local community is staged.

Prior to the March 2020 provincial COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limiting social and entertainment gatherings, the reigning local and visitors most attended event was Lovefest, begun in 2017, commemorating the 1967 Summer Of Love.

Co-organizer Rex Weyler is cautiously looking forward to Lovefest’s revival in August. It’s scheduled for Sunday the 14th. He acknowledges that conditions can change at anytime if further waves of COVID-19 emerge and live gatherings become limited again.

Top image credit: Left to right: Aaron McCulloch-Gary, Greg Osoba, Garden Stein and Dana Trueman, members of local band Six Foot Johnson, perform at Lovefest 2018. Image courtesy of Richard Trueman.