Festival Stop #2: Dawson City Music Festival!

After a long journey (three planes over two days!), we finally arrived in the town of Dawson City.

The Dawson City Music Festival is just like the town itself, a unique and intimate experience only hosting about 1600 people each day.

It felt like the festival was magical to everyone there, and you could tell that the performers were just as excited as the audience members.

The festival workshops, in particular, were incredible; we watched everyone from local singer-songwriter Kevin Barr, to The Constantines side project Baby Eagle, play in impressive historic venues such as St. Paul’s Anglican Church and the Palace Grand.

Of course, the main stage was nothing to miss either.

The Constantines played, and you could tell they were no strangers to the North.

From the first strum of a guitar to the last, the room was on fire, and it was solid proof that rock and roll must make people go crazy.

Everyone we met at the festival was incredibly friendly and welcoming, in particular Tim Jones, the festival’s 25-year old producer and artistic director/genius from Toronto.

He’s been the producer for three years now, his first year in action being the festival’s 30-year anniversary in 2008, and he has the festival’s only year-round position. He gave us a short driving tour of Dawson City at one point during the weekend, and displayed such a sense of pride in the city’s living history and uniqueness, it’s no wonder that despite his young age and the fact that he isn’t from Dawson originally, he has managed to fully maintain the integrity of Canada’s “tiny, perfect festival.”

We also had the good fortune to meet Fred Penner at the Dawson City airport, and he was incredibly excited for us when he heard about the Grasshoppin’ contest. He even grabbed the Good Lovelies and told them about it! He said that he had a great time at the festival, and was really happy with how it turned out. As were we!

Thanks again to everyone at Big Rock and DCMF for a great time; we’ll definitely come back to this incredibly intimate and unique festival in the near future!

See you all in Calgary at the Calgary Folk Music Festival this weekend!

If you want to live vicariously through Parker and Jenna this summer, follow Big Rock Brewery on Twitter or visit the Grasshoppin’ Contest Facebook Page.

But, if you want to BE Parker and Jenna next summer, enter the Grasshoppin’ Contest!