What great musical talent is emerging in Vegreville! Perogies and Jam music fans at the Vegreville Sunshine Club were treated to amazing music performances from 10 regional performers ranging from 10 years old to the young-at-heart category.

This evening’s performances followed an all-day Performance Matters! Workshop which Perogies and Jam in collaboration with the Wendy Brook Festival hosted and we were thrilled to have Rhea March lead this workshop. Rhea is an Edmonton based stage musician, producer, an artist development coach, hosts a weekly Open Mic and is a radio show host.

Starting off the evening at 6:30 pm, our local poet Mary Leonty captured the audience attention with two of her recent poems: Tree in the Meadow and Tiny Bird. Mary first took her hand to poetry in 1992 and more recently has written several new poems focusing on her observations of nature in and around Vegreville.

Emcee Don Harfield welcomed the audience and introduced Rhea March as co-host for the evening. Starting the first set was Valentine Thibault, accompanying herself on guitar with songs Travelling Soldier and Coat of Many Colours. Chelsea Malabanan then came on stage and sang Cruella de Vil and Maybe accompanied by CD music tracks.

Julia Dolejsi then took to the stage with Born to Entertain (and we really felt she is!) and The Climb also accompanied by CD music tracks. Next up was Cally Austin who is a budding fiddler from Mundare and she performed Curly Hair and the Flop Eared Mule. Rob Hughes accompanied her on the cajon (percussion box).

Ken Timanson took us back to the 60’s with Because (Dave Clark Five) and Bless Yore Beautiful Hide (from the Seven Wives for Seven Brothers movie score). Closing off the first set was Alyssa Werezuk with Girl on Fire and Dear Future Husband accompanied by iPhone sound tracks and back up dancers!

During the break, chef Dwayne Hlady and Bob Carter served up full plates of perogies (and cranberry jam), sausage and coleslaw straight from the Sunshine Kitchen along with other hot food, snacks and drinks. Many also enjoyed the fresh hot coffee which is always free at Perogies and Jam events.

Rhea March opened the second set with Your Cheatin’ Heart and Grandma’s Feather Bed accompanied on her acoustic guitar and the audience clapping and singing. Wayne Camantigue performed Mexican Girl and Can You Feel the Love Tonight (from the Lion King movie) with karaoke music accompaniment.

Denver Balid added to the evening’s music diversity of the evening with energetic hard rock songs Higher and Stigmatized accompanied by iPhone sound tracks. With a change of pace, Jody Quickstad on acoustic guitar, performed classic country songs Send Me Back Home, My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, and Crazy Arms.

Closing off the evening was Abby K from Tofield with an original song Hey!, followed by Jolene and Falling in Love with You. For an encore, Abby performed Folsom Prison Blues with great guitar accompaniment licks, as the rest of the workshop attendees joined her on stage.

Don Harfield and Rhea March expressed their great appreciation of the performers, the volunteers and the enthusiastic audience after an evening of over 2 hours of amazing music and song. Vegreville has once again shown that there is great emerging musical talent.

Perogies and Jam thanks the many volunteers for the evening including Peter Thibault on the sound board, Rob Hughes as photographer and as percussionist, Neil Collins with lighting and Carol Larrivee on the cash box.

Please view the following photos as a reminder of the event this evening. Perogies and Jam confirms with the performers and audience of their consent for photos in advance.

Photo Gallery
Photography by Rob Hughes