Kootenay Music Collective

powered by Fisher Peak Performing Artists Society

Its has been awhile since we communicated with you about what has been going on at Fisher peak performing artists society.

We have been extremely busy planning summer sounds 2026 the schedule is completed and

we will be running our popular summer music series “Summer Sounds” starting Thursday July

2 and running every Thursday night in July and August. SO those dates are July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

and August 6,13,20 and final show is on August 27 2026.

We have arranged an amazing group of headliner artists for you this year. We must thank the

City Of Cranbrook, rural district of East Kootenays RDEK, Columbia Basin Trust, The Fisher

Peak Brewing Company, Rotary Clubs of Cranbrook and several other sponsors and

supporters in our amazing community for all the support. We could not do it without you.

There have been many hi lights over the last few years. We are most proud of the youth

program that we have developed to help musicians , under the age of 21, to create

opportunities for them to perform, for them to be paid as legitimate performers, and to help

build their skill level through performances. The youth in our community have responded with

amazing performances and many of you have seen a real resurgence of interest , community

wide, in youth performances. In the short two years that Next Play has been functioning we see

a massive buy-in, from other festivals and events. And thats really the idea isn’t it? Create

opportunities for youth, Raise the next generation of musicians and support them. One of our

local music celebrities-Ethan Askey always says to me…Ward , it takes a community to raise a

musician. That statement will be with me for life. Its true, who better to help our young

musicians then us more experienced! musicians and music lovers. Who better to support these

young people with kind words of encouragement then us right here in our community.

Let me give you a background of “Next Play”. that we do at KMC/ FPPAS.

it is the name of all things youth music related

I met Paul Sawatsky in the summer of 2024. Paul and I struck up a conversation and quickly

realized that we had a common interest in youth music.

So we continued talking and decided the best way to start a program was to put on a Battle of

the Bands Style competition. We wanted to build friendly competition throughout the

kootenays so we decided to host this competition in several of our local communities.

Specifically the music communities in Fernie, Cranbrook, and Creston.

The format was 8 competitors, from each community, judged by top musicians and music

educators in each of these communities. All musicians, whether solo performers or groups,

would have 15 minutes to show their talent. Then the local judges picked their local winners

and sent their finalists competed at Encore Brewing in Cranbrook.

To say this format was a success would be an understatement. Each of the venues sold out

with parents, families, and locals snapping up all available tickets. Ultimately a young Fernie

girl, Peri DeMarchi won the whole competition. She is an amazing young talent and we

continue to work with her and support her with performance opportunities. You will see her and

many others this year at summer sounds.

We are including youth performers in ALL our music programs and offerings.

Several local musicians and music educators have really stepped up to support us. I am going

to name some of them now and hope you Thank them for their assistance. Sarah Turk- judge

extraordinaire and my very talented singer and friend. Ethan Askey- Blues Musician and worldclass harmonica player. Velle

Weitman- music educator of note and an amazing performer-she plays violin and sings like angel, band leader and teaches music

to the lucky people in Creston.

There were many more supporters but these folks stood out.

Through all the connections we made, in our first year, we created 10 new performance

opportunities, for several of our youth musicians. Job Done!

Now what were we going to do to top that?

Well we then created a music event called Road Salt. The event was held at the Eagles Hall.

The event was overseen by our board of directors but was mostly organized by youth

musicians. The event was a huge success and went off without any issues.

So then what were we going to do?

We decided the best way to go was to build a Music Festival, that spanned two days, and

showcased only youth performers under 21 years of age. We held it at Rotary Park late this

past May 2026. Three performances Friday night and then another 7 performances the next

day. I can tell you the quality of the musicianship was way beyond their young years. We have

been receiving Rave Reviews from Audience members who took in the event. One of our social

media reels has over 7000 views! SO now we are going to use several of these youth

performers in our popular summer sounds series. A huge shout out to our sponsors Stellar

vista Credit Union, Columbia basin Trust, City of Cranbrook and Ellas Jamaican Restaurant.

These Great businesses and associations liked what we wanted to do, and financially made it

possible for us to do this. We are humbled by the support and appreciate these folks.

We have also been very busy creating connections within our communities. From Fernie, to

Cranbrook and on to Creston, we have been seeking support to build a truly Kootenay Music

Community. We like to call it the Kootenay Music Collective. Or KMC for short. The purpose is

to advance the good will and community, that was created by FPPAS , and spread it out

amongst the whole Kootenay region. We hope to see interest from Kimberley, Invermere,

Radium, Sparwood and look to these communities to grow into and work with. We ask the

music educators, musicians, and community leaders, in these communities mentioned, to

reach out to us and take part in our programs. Lets build something together in your

community.

We are going to continue to build Next Play into a music festival that focuses 100% on Under

21 youth performers. Really the first of its kind. We are already seeing interest from Alberta, BC,

and other parts of Canada. Year one was a great success and we are already planning year 2!

Beyond this we are working to create new music shows that support some of the travelling

musical groups, that pass through our communities, on their way to Calgary, Kelowna,

Vancouver, etc. Travelling Blues Concert Series is a real possibility and is being planned right

now for later in the Fall.

SO lots of ideas and opportunities are being found and looked into, to support the musical

communities in our communities and music lovers in our communities.

We are available to present a talk to community groups, Schools, Rotary Clubs, city

governments etc and look forward to sharing our ideas with you. Please come support us and

our programs. We are a not for profit organization, that specializes in producing youth music

shows and professional music shows.

Ward morton on behalf of the Fisher Peak Board