The hands of the young will be thrown in the air at Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park, pounding out a rhythm to the sky as young musicians play for young fans, all organized by young event promoters.
For the third year in a row, Yalda Safaei is the main organizer of the Sound Of Summer one-day outdoor festival happening on Saturday.
The 18-year-old is now a veteran impresario thanks to these annual concert events, which began as a summer project for a youth camp called Get Outside BC Leadership Summit in 2013. Fellow participant Fei Gei co-founded the festival with her.
It was intended to be a one-time thing, but momentum built. It also picked up speed generated by the city's 100th birthday this year, and outreach done by the Prince George Community Foundation to revamp their youth leadership committee. Safaei was one of the young stars the PGCF had their eye on, after her honourable mention at the last Prince George Youth of the Year ceremonies, and the concert was a perfect fit for their plans to reboot the group after it had dwindled.
"It was established so young people could learn about philanthropy and social awareness in the community, and those young people are all involved in making the concert," said PGCF executive director Brenda Langlois. "We have some very talented, exciting teenagers and we want them to stay with this program and help us develop it. We want this concert to happen each year, now, too, so they have that opportunity to enjoy themselves after they build an event with their own hands."
"Over the years I have learned that holding a concert event like this is hard work, but persistence is the key," said Safaei. "It takes time for an event to grow, and keeping your motivation and commitment is something you have to really focus on. Also, it is important to get the community involved. You can't do it all yourself. I was really really glad when I was able to partner with the Community Foundation."
Together, the youth were able to acquire (all the acts are paid) Sean Wesley Wood (6 p.m.), Erika Callewaert & Micah Green (6:35 p.m.), The Statistics (7:15), Brooklyn Derksen & Luke Lapp (8 p.m.) and the headliner is Mathias Rock.
There will also be information booths, vendors and other complementary events going on at the park as part of the overall atmosphere.
"For them it is hands-on experience, philanthropic awareness, a major accomplishment for themselves," said Langois about the benefits to the youth on the organizing committee.
The group has expanded and contracted over the years, sometimes with little activity. Due to school and work constraints of people that age there is always high membership turnover and the size fluctuates from between 14 and 25. They meet once per month, or more when events are close at hand.
Their next big project is establishing a youth-based granting organization so these young people get to experience application intake and evaluation, leading to investing actual money in community causes they feel passionate about.
Safaei's concert will be finished by then, but she will carry on as one of the peer-to-peer leaders for the committee.
"She is a very smart young person, so it's a real privilege to work with her. She will go very far," said Langlois.
"It's like they (the PGCF) was looking for me and me looking for them, without even knowing it," said Safaei. "Youth have assets to bring to the table, and older people can work very well with younger people, so we want to see that happen here. It's all working out so far."
