Up in the tallest mountains of the region, deep into the forest and into local history, you will find the village of Wells on the doorstep of Barkerville.
During the August long weekend, that village grows. It experiences an influx of musicians, painters, sculptors, poets, and all the fans that go with them. Together they experience an ArtsWells.
"It's like a choose-your-own-adventure story in real life," said associate producer-curator David Harder, a year-round resident of Wells who works at Island Mountain Arts, the gallery and arts agency that builds ArtsWells each year. "It is predominantly music, but that is just a part of it. We have dancers, drummers, installation art builders, and we have dancers collaborating with drummers, poets collaborating with live painters. Bands have been created at ArtsWells because of all the mixing and collaborating that goes on. Musicians use us for a nice testing ground to try out new projects, and we will do our homework and think up mixes that we think would be great to hear and ask them about getting together on something when they get here."
It's indoors, outdoors, on the schedule and after hours. For four days, the Cariboo might be the most creative place on earth. The official lineup has more than 100 performances, more than 20 workshops, the 14th Annual International One-Minute Play Festival, a dozen official stages, various crafting stations and children's activity hotspots, and the roster of musicians is bound to contain someone you've said 'oh, I always wanted to see them.'
This years list includes Buckman Coe, Coco Love Alcorn, Bend Sinister, Dirty Grace, Good For Grapes, Miss Quincy, Morag Northey, The Wooden Sky, and a couple of headliners: Linda McRae, formerly of Spirit Of The West, and Stephen Fearing of Blackie & The Rodeo Kings. Harder said the organization has to carefully consider whom to book for the festival. There is a now-legendary atmosphere to recreate each year from scratch.
"Stephen Fearing, yeah, he's a really big deal. He's an amazing solo artist, he's in a really big band, but we know from past experience and the recommendations made by artists we've had in the past that he is going to blur the lines between festival performer and festival participant," Harder said.
"We are confident he has that accepting and interactive attitude that will blend well with the other musicians and the fans.
"He will be uplifting for the whole process, not just play his show and go hide in his room, so to speak."
A large number of local and regional talent will also be on the bill. Those names include Black Spruce Bog, Doug Koyama, Drum & Bell Tower, Joey Only, Kym Gouchie, Madeline Tasquin, Michael Morneau, Navaz, Paul Jago, Pharis & Jason Romero, Raghu Lokanathan (also with Corwin Fox as The Chimney Swallows), Samson's Delilah, SSSnap, Tax Free Liquor, Twin Peaks, Willie Kuklis, 2 Dope Boys In A Cadillac, Bottoms Up Burlesque, visual artists Ben Hawkins, Beth Holden, Caroline Anders, Karl Mattson, Madeline Kloepper, Milan Basic, Raina Enss, a film by Amy Newman and Richard Wright, and plenty of others laced in.
"Wells is quite an immaculate character in this play, as well," said Harder.
"It has an amazing history that provides that backdrop, but a town based on arts out in the forest, at the end of a mountain highway, people just connect with that when they're here.
"People appreciate Wells for that."
The ArtsWells website is loaded with information on tickets, accommodations, and all the things you can do under the blue moon of the 2015 festival of all things arts.
