THANK YOU’S 2023
‘Nothing is for free…Everything else costs money’
The arts and cultural community inviting the business sector to join hands to prove we do live in ‘a rather fun place to be’
An endeavour such as programming the different acts to provide 39 days of entertainment ‘free’ to the public is in itself quite a chore.
Locating grants that might be able to accommodate such a request from a 39 day outdoor community music festival is extremely daunting but we have found some new ones over the years
Locating businesses within our community that will step forward with financial and in-kind aid for this humongous project is a whole other task, which is becoming easier each year as more start to realize how much of a positive impact this event has on our community
Here is a list of those that we believe should be recognized as sponsors and contributors in no official order
Sorry if by chance you contributed and were not mentioned!
Cowichan Tribes -We would like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, the traditional territories of the seven traditional villages: Kw’amutsun, Qwum’yiqun’, Hwulqwselu, S’amuna’, L’uml’umuluts, Hinupsum, Tl’ulpalus.
Province of British Columbia -we acknowledge their financial support to the festival through the Community Gaming Grant program.
Duncan Dabber Bingo Society -for including the festival in its 2021 granting process…and hopefully more once the casino is operating again.
City of Duncan - the avenues of communication have opened up immensely, from seeing that we are on their radar when comes to allotting grant monies, to making sure that all the i’s and t’s are crossed properly and easily in our requests for permission make this tenuous job that much more worth it
CVRD – for creating Arts & Culture grants in aid and making sure we were included again this year
Tourism Cowichan for the grant to further our outreach to the rest of the island and mainland so as to attract more tourists being able to find out that we do live in ‘a rather fun place to be’
Downtown Duncan Business Improvement Area Society -for their moral support and assistance with coordinating activities. They do a lot for the downtown businesses making sure everyone knows they exist so remember Shop Locally
City of Duncan Public Works -wow – what a crew, just check out the flower arranging and the daily maintenance in the park as well as the general downtown core - accolades from all of the citizenry for your continued attendance to the beautification our community
Volunteer Fire Departments of the valley- when they rush past our stage on a way to an afternoon or evening call, I remind everyone that they are all volunteers doing this, meaning they drop whatever they are doing to come to the aid of our / their community and so whenever these guys have their ‘boots’ out asking for donations, please, make sure you give generously – and oh yah ...thank you to all the fire trucks for being in our Grande Parade each and every year
The Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives- for being such understanding neighbours, we do encourage locals as well as tourists to check the new and approved valley museum and now all of Canada knows about our awarded train station
The Cowichan Valley Citizen- for getting on the Blues on Tuesdays ‘band’ wagon once again with their in- kind sponsorship and making sure the festival gets the local coverage it deserves
VITAL Society – for stepping up to the plate with $5000 to sponsorship to name the stage in the park, now known as the VITALS Stage in the Park for 2023 ...we will mention it daily from the stage and let everyone know their importance in our community
Cowichan Performing Arts Centre for sponsoring a full day in the park - July 15th - also going on will be Duncan Days / Parade Day
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Community Farm Store for sponsoring a full day in the park along with Duncan Garage Café to celebrate 30 and 20 years in business in the valley - July 29th
Marsha Todd - for sponsoring a night on City Square Stage Canada Day –with the great blues guitar and band leader Brandon Isaak
Old Firehall Wine Bar for sponsoring a night on City Square Stage July 5th with Ashley Wey Trio / Daniel Lapp with Jeanne Tolmie
Coulson Design sponsoring a full day in the park – Aug. 6th -Jazz in the Park
Red Balloon Toy Shop for sponsoring the multi awarded kid’s entertainer Rick Scott at noon on July 16th as part of our 2 hour Children’ Time
Sassy Lion Thrift Store for the sponsorship of the pony rides between 11am and 1pm in the park for our Children’s Time (for 8 and under)
Lise Brown for sponsoring a concert in the park July 22nd with a performance by Memphis-raised now from New Orleans singer-songwriter / frailing banjo player Kelly Hunt with a voice that makes her americana writings stay in your memory
Marguerite Camus for her continuing financial support of our festival and for sponsoring a concert by Jonathon Churcher on Aug. 2nd at 4pm
JP Construction Supplies sponsoring an evening in the park July 3rd with performances by Steph McPherson at 6pm and Paul Black Band at 7pm
ETHOS CMG for supplying the multitude of belly dancers with food trays for their ‘green’ room back stage
Duncan Garage Cafe- across the street from the park, they bring on extra staff to deal with the festival overflow and they make sure to give back-we appreciate them immensely- they also supply us with gift cards for our performers celebrating being open for 20 years on July 29th with wonderful music to dance to
Just Jakes/ Craig Street Brew Pub with their voucher exchange, making sure we can treat some of our performers to a funtastic welcome to ‘a rather fun place to be’
Sap Siam our wonderful neighbourhood thai café on Station street for supplying us with meal vouchers for some of our performers
Fresh Kenny’s at the corner of Jubilee and Government, thanks for the generous offer of the ‘after festival hours for musicians and such’ open mic location and the exchange on vouchers for our performers
Easy Move Containers - for providing storage space for the DCFS during our off season, they are also providing an onsite storage container during the festival this year
Lion’s Club / Sassy Lion Thrift Store- for their generous grants over these past years making sure the kids entering the festival’s Duncan Has Talent had a financial windfall to look forward (although there is no actual contest this year there will be Duncan Does Have Talent, a collection of 4 Wednesday afternoons at 3pm where there is room for 8 performers) - they are also big supporters of Special Woodstock –
Station Street Diner- and thanks to Mary and crew for also supplying meal coupons for performers
Cowichan Valley Arts Council – for spearheading an art pop up exhibit /sale on July 29th on Kenneth Street and Craig from 10am till 4pm. The arts standing together
DCFS Board of Directors –Jeff Downey - president / Ian Fairwell-director / Rick Martinson –consulting secretary-treasurer / Jeff Leggat – director /parade coordinator / John Falkner- director / Seth Godbey -director / Don McCormick for understanding their purpose and by joining hands with the community to prove we do live in ‘a rather fun place to be’ –
Past DCFS Board of Directors- as always, there are people who step up to the plate to volunteer their enthusiasm, their expertise and their time to make sure that a festival in downtown Duncan takes place- this is the board’s 43rd year of inception, there have been many before us who have brought good will and a parade to the community, you know who you are and you are hereby saluted –a big 43rd anniversary hug sent your way.
Jeff Leggat - for taking on the reigns of the Grande Parade for the 44th Annual version in 2023 with his ‘Carnival’ approach, for doing it with enthusiasm and vision, finding sponsorships within the business sector to keep the spirit of community alive
We have a new Grande Parade sponsor this year, Island GM, joining our returning sponsors, Dairy Queen/Oodyoos & Panago Pizza Duncan. Duncan Paving Company is also partnering this year to help us with our Grande Parade, along with the City of Duncan, NCC, CVRD, Cowichan Tribes, the Rotary Club, DDBIA and our amazing team of volunteers.
All the Businesses that took out ads this year –it is a wonderful way to show support for what DCFS does, so please stop in and thank them for their support, they will luv the attention
Mark's Instant Sign Shop Ltd – for being once again so considerate in their pricing and our time lines for our main signage and all that we need
Andrew Brown - for taking on our schedule program layout this year again even without much adherence to deadline by us
Juice FM- for their continued support with their on air event announcements of our scheduling...stay tuned to the Juice with their new format, they is a good way to know what is up to date in the local news and entertainment in our valley
Rob McKenzie for once again coming up with a great design, in cooperation with valley artist Kaye Smillie, for our front cover, our billboards, posters and social media
Kaye Smillie for stepping forward with her exquisite capture of what Duncan is all about and allowing us to use it as a visual feel of what the festival is all about - this is her second painting to be used as our front cover
All the past sponsors- to those over the years who have kept us afloat with their ads and sponsorships, we thank you muchly...
All the volunteers - warmth sent to all, whether it be for a minute, an hour or days in a row in helping us move all the chairs and equipment as we set up and tear down each day . Not to mention running the many errands when needed
You, the audience- for listening to ‘new to you’ music every day, for having an open mind, for sharing space / smiles and conversations, for understanding ‘festival etiquette” being attentive to the performers pouring out their soul on stage and for being continuously generous when the ‘donation’ box comes around
All the Performers- yes, much extra special thanks to the hundreds of performers for making this festival become what it was designed be all about… Community- how the arts sector creates positive effects upon the everyday living of the people in our community… they have chosen to work for much less than should be expected of them …and done it with smiles . So if performers have CD'S and such for sale, please support them if you can and do join them in their various local gigs throughout the valley / follow their FB pages / show up at their gigs.
Duncan Showroom- for being the ‘home base’ for the 39 Days of July, almost all of the musicians / bands have ‘auditioned’ at the Showroom with their previous performances and all have become close friends and respect what is being done there – also for making sure the festival stage structure and three 20’ x 20’s and the 20’ x 30’four plus all the 10’ x 10’ tents and extra gear as needed each year are ‘donated’ at a much reduced cost to the DCFS
Ted Cadillac aka Tim – in his 9th year of being the sound guy from heaven, so many shows in these 39 days each year and then into working the Duncan Showroom live stream on youtube nightly concerts the rest of the year...a great addition to our community and the national music scene - always shaves clean faced before the festival and then grows his beard back for the rest of the year, for those of you who won’t recognize that handsome man behind the sound board...
Trevor Linde – for making sure the staging was set up in record time again
Aiden Olenik – for all his hard work setting up the stages / tents and anything else that requires his hydraulic like strength ( he also has a leather headband as part of the ‘crew’ )
Longevity John Falkner- for continuing to be the Longevity John he is!