BUZZ IN BADDECK
New festival featuring local arts, culture is deemed success
New Festiville Baddeck features local arts and culture.
The buzz in the village is that the numbers attending the inaugural Festiville Baddeck were off the scales.
“We had between 2,000 and 2,500, people of all ages at the launch on Monday, it was absolutely thrilling,” said festival committee member Iris Kedmi. “Standing on the street you could hear the pipes, aboriginal drummers, classical music — what a celebration of community.”
Similar events are planned for Aug. 8 and Sept. 1.
The committee’s first attempt at this type of street festival had it all, from buskers to music, food and fun.
“At one point I looked at the whole street and the happiness of everybody from early age to seniors, it was amazing,” Kedmi said. “I’m sure I can speak for others on the committee. We felt like we accomplished something and it was big.”
Kami said at one point in the evening the ATM machines at the two local banks ran out of money.
“I’m hearing from the vendors and from businesses in town that they did very well. There were lines to the restaurants and some of the vendors who offered food ran out.”
Referring to the amount of work involved in planning a festival, Kedmi added that it took the committee two months just to get approval to have the main street in the village closed during the festivities.
“We faced some skepticism, but the members of the committee are so positive. It was the first time the main street was closed in Baddeck for this type of community event,” she said. “There were older people who were in shock because they’d never seen anything like this before. It fit beautifully with this historic village.”
Kedmi was hesitant to talk about how much money it takes to put on an event like Festiville Baddeck.
“It’s never been done on this scale before in our community. All of us are volunteers, every committee member contributed to this event to the max,” she said. “We’ll know more about costs at the end of the season.”
The committee plans to meet after the final event in September and go over what can be done to make this even more of a success next year.
“It’s an accomplishment for us and for this community. I believe the economic impact from this festival is going to be tremendous,” she said. “In life we have so many negative things, that you want to celebrate the positive things. This is empowerment. Being positive and happy pushes you forward. You cannot believe how many people have contacted us to be part of this event.”
For more information about how to get involved, or to learn more about this initiative, visit the website at – www.festivillebaddeck.com or e-mail festivillebaddeck@gmail.com.
“At one point I looked at the whole street and the happiness of everybody from early age to seniors, it was amazing. I’m sure I can speak for others on the committee. We felt like we accomplished something and it was big.” Committee member Iris Kedmi.