Folk on the Rocks is (almost) here!
At noon on Friday, July 15th, dozens of people gathered in Yellowknife’s Somba K’e Civic Plaza to watch some early lunchtime performances for the “Warm the Rocks” event. While the skies were a little cloudy, there was no rain to ruin the fun of the residents as they enjoyed some delicious snacks and delightful performers.
The first act to perform was PIQSIQ. Kayley Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik are Inuit style throat singers. While their songs do have an established base to build off of, much of their enchanting music is improvisational which as they say, means you’ll never see the same performance twice.
The rest of the afternoon saw performers such as Johnny Vu, Kalilah Rampanen, Taiga YogaLeaf Rapids, and Pantayo. More events and performers were booked to perform at Long Lake later in the evening.
Carly McFadden, the Executive & Artistic Director for Folk on the Rocks, was on the scene, and shared some of what goes in to making this beloved event a reality.
“A lot goes into it. I’m actually already planning for 2023 a little bit right now, so it really is a full year of planning. It’s kinda just myself and a couple other staff members that start in the Fall, and then throughout the Winter and Spring, we build. At this point in the year, we’re at eighteen staff members, four-hundred fifty volunteers, our board’s full hands on deck. There’s lots of moving pieces and parts, but right now it’s really feeling like it’s all coming together just magically.”
Folk on the Rocks will continue with a full schedule of performances over the July 16th weekend.
