Perogies and Jam kicked off their 8th Season with three very talented young singers as featured artists at the Vegreville Sunshine Club on October 21, 2017. Emcee Don Harfield welcomed the audience to this Canada 150 event on a warm sunny fall evening.

Starting off the evening at 6:50 pm with the Open Mic session, Wayne Camantigue of Vegreville on a nylon string acoustic electric guitar performed two songs Photographs & Memories and Time in a Bottle, before then being joined by Rob Hughes on his cajon drum for Speedy Gonzales. Mary Leonty also of Vegreville, then read three of her recent original poems From the Hilltop, Tiny Bird and The Wind.

The featured artists this evening were Audrey Stefan of Vegreville, Abby K of Tofield, and Hannah Gazso of Ardrossan who all recently performed at the Country 106 Talent Search at the Agricultural Fair in Vegreville. Hannah Gazso was the 2017 Talent Search Winner and has started recording at a studio in Calgary. All three performed original songs.

Audrey Stefan performed a set of 5 songs including Dreams, an original song Liar Liar, Writer in the Dark by Lorde and Toxic by Brittany Spears. She concluded her set with a tribute to Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip with the song Wheat Kings. It’s always a treat for Perogies and Jam fans to have Audrey perform at our events and this was no exception.

Abby K performed a great set of 8 songs accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. She opened with Riptide, Blowing in the Wind, and followed with Jolene, Found Love (original song) and Stand by Me. Closing off her set were Home (original song), True Colours and Folsom Prison Blues. Abby is 16 years old and she has been performing at numerous events in Alberta including the Ponoka Stampede and took 1st place at the Kalyna Idol. We hope to see more of Abby K at future Perogies and Jam events.

After a short break with great food from the Sunshine Club Kitchen, Hannah Gazso came on stage with her acoustic guitar. Hannah is 14 years old and performed seven songs starting with Happy People by Little Big Town and then Hey Ho by the Lumineers. She then performed an original song Miss Perfect followed by Dimestore Cowgirl by Kacey Musgraves. Concluding her set, she sang Joy Parade by Lennon and Maisy, White Noise by Lindsay Ell, and finished with Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Hannah did a terrific job and we hope to see her again soon.

The three young ladies, Audrey, Abby and Hannah having never performed together, came together on stage for a final song Stay with Me by Sam Smith. What a great way to finish the evening!

We thank our volunteers this evening for helping make this first event of our 8th Season a success. Chef Dwayne Hlady assisted by Pete Homeniuk and Bob Carter served up great perogies (with jam of course!), Caesar salad, fruit pies and other fine fare. Carol Larrivee was the greeter and on cash box, and Shirley Hlady was at the Canada 150 desk. Peter Thibault was the sound technician and Rob Hughes was the photographer. Well done everyone!

And to our music fans, we thank you for supporting Perogies and Jam events and supporting local musical talent in and around Vegreville.

Photo Gallery
Photography by Rob Hughes