J Blissette rocking out for the crowd at the Love and Records festival in Galt Gardens in Lethbridge on Sept. 16, 2017.
Lethbridge’s Love and Records festival took over Galt gardens on Saturday and transformed it into a music lover’s paradise.
For the sixth year in a row the University of Lethbridge’s own radio station CKXU planned a heartfelt festival like no other. Live Canadian musicians filled the park with a variety of music ranging from deep soul to indie rock, while festival goers took part in sifting through Western Canada’s largest record fair.
Doogie Irvine, a record seller from Kelowna, BC, who has been a part of the Love and Records festival for the last four years collects records from various places and brings them to the festival for people discover and buy. Irvine is an obsessed investor of music and enjoys the Love and records atmosphere for the variety of music and people.
“Music is therapeutic, everyone loves music. I don’t know most of the headliners this year but if you see a group you like you can go and buy their albums right after, I really enjoy that part about it,” said Irvine.
Along with the record fair the festival also offered the community over 50 artisan shops, an outdoor art gallery, acrobatic performers, a food truck circle and plenty of activities for the children.
The Love and Records festival is completely volunteer run and a big supporter of community involvement. Promoting a greener city, the festival encouraged people to ride their bikes and bring refillable water bottles to the festival for they provided bike racks and a water filling station to reduce the festivals carbon footprint.
The director of entertainment for Love and Records Tseten Drawu expressed the importance of the festival to be inclusive to promote equality in the community.
“One of the features that I think is great is that showing how everyone in the community can come together and enjoy all the features of Love and Records for free. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you do we can all enjoy it equally together and make these fun happy memories,” said Drawu.
One of the mandates of CKXU is to promote and enhance cultural diversity in Southern Alberta. Love and Records stands and supports multiculturalism in the festival by incorporating a blessing from the Blackfoot Elder, traditional hoop dancing along with featuring local artists and musicals of different cultures.
The Festival headline act was SiriusXM radio artist of the year and Juno nominee Cold Specks who brought her haunting classical voice and doom soul sound to the stage. Cold Specks sung her heart out with new songs her upcoming album which was inspired by her father’s journey through music and by the legend of a Somali queen Araweelo, who was said to have castrated her male enemies.
Other musical acts included Polaris Prize nominee Weaves along with Fox Eyes, Peter & the Wolves, Maria Livingston and Carter Felker.
The music played through the day and into the night leaving the heart of the city of Lethbridge with a new understanding of art, culture and community as the Love and Records festival came to a close.
