After a long weekend and a long week back to work, I feel like I am finally starting to recover from attending the ArtsWells Festival of all things art this year, but not for the reasons that you may think.
This was my second year attending the 12th annual ArtsWells Festival, so in many ways, my husband and I, are exceedingly late to this party.
Considering the way that my heart swells with joy, anticipation and memories every single time I turn the last corner and see the always glimmering Jack O' Clubs lake, it is ridiculous that William and I missed it every year.
Now realizing the error of our ways, I don't see us missing this festival any time in the near future.
For those of you who have scoffed at this festival imagining that it is just a bunch of ripe hippies running around semi-naked, drunkenly-performing poi fire dances in the wee hours of the morning, you would be correct. You will absolutely see drunken poi.
However, you will also be enveloped into a community of strange love, awesome music and laughter. You will absolutely meet the most interesting people. You will see people you know from Prince George who you would never expect to attend this festival.
Your kids will have a wonderful time and you will feel like you are a part of something completely insane, in the nicest possible way.
My only complaint about this festival is that it is impossible to see everything. I am not joking. You just can't.
What I am going to do this year is take my program and commit to memory what I would like to see next year.
It has become increasingly important to enjoy the times in our lives that are fun and carefree rather than have the years slip by without even noticing they are gone. I am an exceptionally lucky person.
I was able to spend time with my family, enjoying this festival while staying with two very special friends, James Douglas and Danette Boucher and their lovely girls.
This year, the community in Wells and Barkerville suffered the loss of a friend and although the festival was, in many ways, so very strange in the face of collective grief, it was also a way to share the memory of a friend who enjoyed living life.
Wells is a small and crazy little mountain town where I first met my future husband (who played four times this year at ArtsWells) and some of the best friends that I will ever have. ArtsWells Festival is a celebration of art, music, poetry, theatre and dance that heals the heart and warms the soul.
See you next year.
