I had a really good time at Folk on the Rocks 2009 and I will definitely be going again next year. I will also be able to enjoy the performances in the Beer Garden a little more.

All the bands that played were awesome and really opened my eyes to the great talent not only those from the north but also from the rest of Canada. My itunes library will be growing over the next couple days. How did you find the bands/ performers? Who was your favorite?

I’m not a photographer by no means but I was taking some pictures while I was there during the day. Unfortunately while Sam Roberts was playing the there was a horrible haze in the air and I was not close enough to get any good photos. Here are just some of what I got:

You can find all Folk on the Rocks photos HERE or maybe HERE

A Big thanks go out to all the organizers, volunteers and of course performers. If you didn’t have a chance to get out there this year I definitely suggest you make it a point to attend next year.

If you want to share the photos you took please share the link in the comment section.

Well today is the Friday before Folk on the Rocks, which means it is the last day that tourists and performers will be trickling in for the festival. Folk on the Rocks is one of the big sellers for coming to the end of the road (Yellowknife) in the summer, so for the couple days the festival is on, the streets seem that little bit busier as well as musical.

I have posted about the festival, the line up, and the schedule for each day and they all can be found here:

• Folk on the Rocks intro and 2009 Lineup
• Friday July 17 Schedule
• Saturday July 18 Schedule
• Sunday July 18 Schedule

Taking a quick glance at the weather forecast for this weekend it looks to be a good one. As you all know this summer definitely hasn’t been an outstanding one.

Having never been to Folk on the Rocks personally I am probably not certified to be giving advice about what you should know about attending the festival but I thought I should mention a couple things you might want to consider.

As this event runs for two full days and chances are you are going to be sitting in one spot for the majority of it I must remind everyone, that although it wont be overly hot outside during the afternoons. The suns rays will still  get to any exposed skin, so don’t forget that sun screen or at least a hat. While on the topic of exposed skin, do I really need to remind anyone that the bugs are out. And in full force. I suggest you pick up a can of Muskal for yourself, you may just use the whole can in two days.

The Folk on the Rocks site is a big place and there will be a lot happening, which means there will be a lot of people all over the place. As far as I am aware there will be some seating provided in some areas but as the amount of people will be so great, it would be a very good idea to bring your own foldable chair. If you do not have the use of a foldable chair or you purely don’t want to take one, maybe a blanket is more your style.

There will be food and drinks for sale at the festival but bringing your own water bottle is a good idea as well, especially if it is going to be sunny.

If you have any tips or tricks for Folk on the Rocks let everyone know in the comment section.

Finally, If you are taking any photos and upload them to Flickr, make sure to tag them with fotr2009 for everyone to see. Hope to see you all there.

Rock the Folks was last night and I hope you had a chance to get out there to watch some awesome local youth bands. But if not here are some of the photo I managed to take. Mind you I wasn’t even able to stay for the whole thing as I had to go to work, either way here they are.

Shortly after this photo was taken all the empty picnic table filled up and the festival commenced.

The above dancer was the most out going fan there. He would jump table to table flailing around giving high-fives to everyone. To top that off he had a broken arm while doing it all.

To see all the 2009 Folk on the Rock photos CLICK HERE . Make sure if you upload your festival photos to Flickr to tag them with fotr2009 so everyone can see them.

Going to #FOTR this weekend? If you decide to buy food there, first pop by the Ecology North booth, deposit $2, they’ll give you a “real” plate. When you’re done, return it and they’ll wash it for you. They’ll give you the toonie back .. but… you could just donate it

Before any of the great performers we have attending this weekends Folk on the Rocks festival became who they are today, they probably played at something similar to Rock the Folks. It is all about the Local Youth showing what they got. There will be a a variety of musical stylings in this youth-styled battle of the bands. It will be a fun, loving, mellow and relaxing time for everyone.

This is a great opportunity to see some of the great talent Yellowknife produces. Want to know the details? Here ya go:

When: July 16, 2009 8pm

Where: Beer Garden Stage, Folk on the Rocks site.

Admission: $5 at the gate and is open to ALL AGES

Hope to see you all there. If you see me, come say hi!

The final day of Folk on the Rock is by no means going to be a dull one. Just like Saturday it is filled with lots of great performances.

Left Stage

1:00 Kaley Kinjo

2:00 Endless Summer Strings

Featuring Six String Nation Guitar with

Old Man Luedecke on banjo, Tamara Nile

(T. Nile) on banjo, Dana Sipos on mandolin,

Pat Braden on Chapman Stick, Doug Liddle

(Swank) on slide guitar and Drew Gonsalves

on cuatro (Kobo Town)

3:00 Royal Wood

Right Stage

12:45 Gospel Hour with Rick Poltaruk and Friends

2:00 Wayward Sons

Dennis Allen and Jesse James

3:00 Nia Technique – Movement Workshop

Cultural Stage

1:15 Ravens and Corbeaux

Behchokò Drummers and Kobo Town

2:00 Kaiva

3:00 Dené Hand Games

Family Stage

1:00 Storytelling with Jim Green

2:00 Musical Imagination – make and play your own musical instruments!

3:00 Storytelling with Charly Chiarelli

Beer Garden

1:00 Dragon Fli Empire

2:00 Wake Up Hazel

3:00 Giant Con

4:00 T. Nile

5:00 Digawolf

6:00 Swank

7:00 Kodiak

Canadian North Mainstage

Emcee: Rich Terfry

4:00 Old Man Luedecke

5:00 Pat Braden

6:00 Forest City Lovers

7:00 Red Power Squad

8:00 Godson

9:00 Sam Roberts Band

10:45 Kobo Town

11:30 Festival Finale with Behchokò Youth Drummers

Are you going to be taking pictures while you’re there? Do you use Flickr? If so, tag your photos with FOTR2009 so everyone can see your great photos. Have Fun.

Here is the schedule for Folk on the Rocks July 18, 2009:

Left Stage

1:00 Poetic Champions Compose:

A musical discussion with Royal Wood,

Dana Sipos, Kat Burns (Forest City Lovers),

Laurie Sarkadi (Wake Up Hazel), Steve

Whittaker (Giant Con), Pat Braden and

Jesse James (Digawolf)

2:15 Art Johns

3:15 Forest City Lovers

Right Stage

1:15 Jim Green

2:15 Dragon Fli Empire

3:15 Swank

Cultural Stage

1:00 Behchokò Youth Drummers

1:45 Kaiva

2:15 Red Power Squad

3:15 Digawolf

Family Stage

1:00 Brian Heppelle – Learn to Tie a Fly!

Brought to you by the Fly Kid Foundation

2:00 Fish Tales

3:00 Charly Chiarelli – Once Upon a Pizzeria!

Beer Garden

1:00 Rocks the Folks Winner

1:45 Dennis Allen

2:45 Kaley Kinjo

3:45 Old Man Luedecke

5:00 Giant Con

6:00 Wake Up Hazel

7:00 Kobo Town

Canadian North Mainstage

Emcee: Rich Terfry

4:00 Festival Opening with Behchokò

Youth Drummers

4:15 Art Johns

5:00 Dana Sipos

5:45 T. Nile

6:45 Royal Wood

7:45 Collaboration Project: ExChanging Beats

Featuring Red Power Squad, Dragon

Fli Empire, Kaiva, Godson, Behchokò

Youth Drummers

8:30 Swank

9:30 Kodiak

10:30 Digawolf

11:15 Sam Roberts Band

There is a lot going on and I hope to get out to most of the stages, minus the beer garden stage unfortunately. If you are going to be there during any part of the festival let me know, I would love to meet up with some of you.

Most of the time I hate dealing with PDF’s online because half the time it always wants to download itself into some hidden location on your computer that takes 5 minutes to find. So what I am going to do, is over the next couple days publish each days events as a “easy to read online” schedule.

Starting with Friday July 17, Warm the Rocks:

Top Knight:

9:00pm Giant Con

9:45pm Kaley Kinjo

10:45pm Godson

11:45pm Kodiak

Explorer Hotel:

9:30pm Dana Sipos

10:45pm T. Nile

Twist:

9:00pm Forest City Lovers

10:30pm Royal Wood

11:45pm Wake Up Hazel

In a week and a half’s time Yellowknife will become an even larger tourist destination than normal. I’m talking about the Folk on the Rocks event of course. A weekend jam packed full of music from right here in the north to all over the world. This years festival will be taking place between July 17 and 19.

If you don’t yet have tickets I suggest you get one and check it out. Although I have lived here for 15 years I have yet to go to one myself but this year I plan to. You can buy your tickets online here.

If you are not sure what Folk on the Rocks is, here is a quick description from their website:

The two-day weekend event (plus the Friday opening gala Warm the Rocks) has grown into one of Canada’s top summertime music and cultural festivals, drawing musicians from the NWT and Nunavut and across the globe for the North’s biggest party under the midnight sun.

More than 24 hours of programming on five stages, including a children’s area, cultural area, and beer garden promises fun and enjoyment for all ages. Along with the music, crowds can savour international and traditional cuisine at the food fair, and buy Northern creative works in the Art on the Rocks area.

This years line up is more promising than ever. Talent that will blow you mind.

Here is the 2009 line up:

• RICH TERFRY
• SAM ROBERTS BAND
• ROYAL WOOD
• KOBO TOWN
• SWANK
• BEHCHOKO YOUTH DRUMMERS
• DANA SIPOS
• DENNIS ALLEN
• DIGAWOLF
• DRAGON FLI EMPIRE
• FOREST CITY LOVERS
• GIANT CON
• GODSON (wouldn’t be a folk festival without a local rap star)
• KAIVA
• OLD MAN LUEDECKE
• PAT BRADEN
• RED POWER SQUAD
• T. NILE you can also check her out on twitter @tnile
• WAKE UP HAZEL
• KALEY KINJO
• ART JOHNS
• SIX STRING NATION GUITAR
• CHARLY CHIARELLI
• JIM GREEN
• KODIAK

As you can see it is quite the line up. You can also find more information about the 2009 line up here.

UPDATE: Folk on the Rocks 2009 Schedule:

• Folk on the Rocks 2009 Schedule: July 17
• Folk on the Rocks 2009 Schedule: July 18
• Folk on the Rocks 2009 Schedule: July 19

Stay tuned for two more post relating to Folk on the Rocks before the event. 2009 Schedule and What you need to know before you go.