WHAT’S NEW AT HARMONY
It makes sense that the newest addition to the Harmony Arts Festival involves books. After all, the 26-year-old event sits comfortably on the edge of a beach — a great place for a good read.
Working with the West Vancouver Memorial Library, the festival has created the new literary program Readings in the Park.
The Crime + Mystery Panel is moderated by Robin Spano (Claire Vengel Undercover novels). The Aug. 2 event welcomes authors William Deverell (Arthur Beauchamp series), Ian Hamilton (Ava Lee novels) and Sam Wiebe (Last of the Independents).
“We had a planning meeting and a discussion and the memorial library people were quite keen that we have a crime panel. They felt it would be a great interest to our festivalgoers,” said Christie Rosta, the events and festivals manager for the District of West Vancouver.
The second half of the reading series is An Afternoon with Joseph Boyden on Aug. 4.
“People can expect to hear some fabulous storytelling. I understand he dazzles his audience. We’ve heard amazing reviews from his presentations and discussions,” said Rosta.
Other new additions to the established festival include a nod to cocktail culture with Mixology Night on the Pier, and The Park Royal Marina
Club is a new musical dining venue that puts the spotlight on music, including duelling pianos and DJs jamming with horn players in an adventure in pairings.
The 10-day festival features 600 artists and 100 businesses.
“I love seeing all the community come down. It really is quite amazing. It’s become a real gathering place,” said Rosta who adds that she has heard of groups of people called festival friends, who meet up once a year for the event.
“For me, and most of our festivalgoers, it’s about coming down to the waterfront, hanging out at the beach, experiencing great food, great music, great art in every nook and cranny. You can walk and explore something in a really casual setting,” said Rosta. The festival is also green and clean — in 2015, 78 per cent of the festival waste stayed out of the landfill. Almost 3,000 kg of materials were recycled, keeping 374 bags of garbage out of the landfill. “We’ve become a zero-waste festival,” said Rosta.