Out of the ashes of the now defunct Regina Folk Festival, rises a new downtown event for Queen City music lovers to embrace. That is the aim of the new Exchange Folk Festival put on by the Saskatchewan Cultural Exchange Society. On Friday afternoon, the pieces of the main stage were being put into place as the sounds of construction filled the air in Victoria Park. On Saturday, the sounds will change to a full day of live music. One of the 15 bands that will take to the stage are local rock group Black Thunder. The band has been playing together since 2009, but current bass player Dustin Wiebe joined in 2013, after the former bass player quit. Wiebe was pulling double duty at the festival. Before taking to the stage on Saturday, he volunteered to help set up the event on Friday. He said that sort of volunteer spirit speaks to the community atmosphere the festival is bringing about and the village of people it takes to make it happen. With the Regina Folk Festival shutting down last year, Wiebe believes having a music festival back in downtown Regina is much needed. “Regina folk festival being gone left a huge void. And I think it’s great that they’re going out of their way to try to make something happen in that void. And I think that’s needed in the city. It’s really nice. A lot of people have expressed how they missed it. And so, it’s great that something’s happening,” he said. The Exchange agrees with Wiebe that a void was needed to be filled in Regina, where citizens could spend a summer day taking in a dedicated music festival with local talent. The organization’s Executive Director John Kennedy thought they were a natural fit to start a new festival tradition. “We’ve been around for almost 50 years presenting music in this space and other places. And so, we thought we were the ideal organization to try something like this. And we obviously have a vested interest in and passion about local music. So, we wanted to make sure that there was lots of local representation here,” he said. “And then a few touring acts to kind of round things out. And we wanted to make it free this year just so that we could kind of put our mark on the week and let people know that we’re here and let people know that we’re looking at building into the future.” Another local rock group, Indigo Joseph, will play downtown to the crowd on the weekend. The group has been playing together for nearly 15 years, but took a 10-year hiatus before recently reconnecting with a local performance at O’Hanlons Irish Pub. One of the band’s two vocalists, Etienne Fletcher, said that particular performance rekindled a spark in the group. Fletcher said it’s local events like that and the upcoming festival which give not only the artists a chance to connect and bond, but also the audience. “These events are super necessary for people to come together and get out of the house, celebrate music, but also just come and check in with your neighbours. I don’t think we do that as much as we did back in the day,” Fletcher said. The first act, Shannon Elizabeth, kicks off the show Saturday at noon. Performances run all day with the final act, Foxwarren, taking to the stage at 10:15 pm.
