Scott Roos
Special to the Herald
On Friday, Aug. 9, the annual Sunset Country Music Festival will once again be taking place in MacDowell, Saskatchewan.
This year’s lineup will feature Josh Stumpf and the Boys Downtown, Mercy Glover, Aiden Edwards & East Side of Second, Morgan Desjardins and Brett Down. All in all, it should be an evening of top quality entertainment supporting a great cause.
For Stumpf, in particular, it’s been a great year with his single “Drink Me a Lullaby” reaching number one on the Canadian Indie Country Music Countdown in February. At the 35th annual Saskatchewan Music Awards he, alongside Darryl Anderson, was awarded “Emerging Artist of the Year”. There’s been music videos and an ep release all the while Stumpf continues to win over new fans with quality live performances.
All the successes aside, however, Stumpf sees the Sunset Country Music Festival as an opportunity to give back to his community. He’s not only playing, but also co-organizing the event, with proceeds going towards the purchasing of instruments and lesson booklets for Prince Albert’s Ranch Ehrlo houses.
“With Ranch Ehrlo we wanted to help them get kids into music rather than, you know, risky behavior I guess you could call it,” Stumpf tells the Herald. “I figured the more people you can get into music at a younger age the more you can keep them away from all the negative stuff. It gives them an outlet (for artistic expression).”
With the festival being in its third year of operation, Stumpf alongside fellow performer/organizer Mercy Glover, are excited with the evolution of the production of the festival as a whole. Last year featured the addition of a beer garden for the first time with the sound and lighting being continuously tweaked as well.
“We wanted to play and to perform for people. This is a way to give back and say, ‘hey I’m not doing this because I want to get paid. I want to help other people while we’re doing this.’ So every year we’re trying to look for what the community needs the most this year and figure out what the pressing issue is this year.” Stumpf tells the Herald.
Additionally, the festival this year has partnered with Moose Fest for a special deal on combining ticket prices. You can buy Sunset Music Festival tickets for $20 or you can buy Moose Fest tickets for $30 or for $40 you can attend both festivals. The festivals are back to back with Sunset being on the Friday and Moose Fest being on the Saturday. Two great, grass roots, independently run festivals for one great low low price.
For further information on Sunset Country Music Festival including how to purchase tickets and location of festival grounds you can head to sunsetcountryfest.ca. It’s going to be a great night of awesome emerging Saskatchewan country music artists. Definitely not to be missed.
