Music Festival
Boonstock survey: A new location, a new experience
PENTICTON - They came, they saw, they got dirty and partied. Now Boonstock wants to hear from you how it went. Boonstock Music and Arts Festival organizers today released an online survey for festival attendees to provide feedback. The survey was posted on Boonstock’s official Facebook page and people are already posting comments about how to...
RCMP say Boonstock needs to reimburse government for additional police costs
PENTICTON - RCMP say Boonstock organizers need to reimburse the provincial government for additional police officers required during the festival weekend, after private security failed to provide adequate resources. The two final days of the festival required additional personnel since RCMP had to shift their focus to security and public safety. A new cost analysis...
Boonstock says RCMP accounting is ‘speculation’
PENTICTON - Boonstock organizers say they received a bill from the provincial government three-and-a-half times more than the additional $50,000 RCMP say is owed for extra costs incurred over the festival weekend last month. The Ministry of Justice sent an invoice to Boonstock organizers with a “total owing” of nearly $177,000, and gave them 30...
Still no RCMP invoice for Boonstock
PENTICTON - It’s been almost three months since Boonstock weekend and festival organizers still have not received a copy of the RCMP expense report, which outlines additional costs incurred over the four-day festival. Forty officers were scheduled to work the festival weekend and racked up a $200,000 bill paid for by Boonstock. But in September,...
What the police expense report for Boonstock looks like
PENTICTON - The police expense report from the Boonstock festival weekend in August has been made public and reveals hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime, car cleaning services and general supplies. The police report, released by the provincial government Monday, outlines the $252,715 in policing costs—both anticipated and unexpected—for the August long weekend when over...

HELSTON: What’s happening to summer music fests?
It starts around July—posts about dust-caked feet, late nights and dazzling concerts hurl into my Facebook news feed and I know it’s festival season again.
Bad news for Roots and Blues Music Fest
SALMON ARM - A summer music festival that has become synonymous with the City of Salmon Arm is in financial peril, and next year’s event hangs in the balance. The popular Roots and Blues Festival has been a staple of summer music in the Shuswap for 22 years, but currently doesn’t have enough money to...
IN PHOTOS: Boonstock After Dark
PENTICTON - The Boonstock grounds come alive at night with people dressed in costume, facepaint and dust. With hands in the air, they dance frantically and without a care to the music that literally shakes the ground and moves through your body from your feet on up through your limbs. Here's a look at some...

ARCHER: Hey Boonstock, just tell us what’s going on
Hey kids! Boonstock is only three weeks away! Nothing but fun and sun and music and culture and stuff! It’s all good all the time! Just please don’t look behind the curtain. I know I’ll be accused of being the grumpy old parent shushing the teenagers on their three-day sleepover, but I wish I didn’t...

Peachfest adds high-flying acts
PENTICTON - A high-flying act was added to the lineup for the 67th annual Penticton Peach Festival. A trampoline show, performed by The Trampoline Wall and Power Track Show, will present daily in Okanagan Lake Park during the festival. “This system allows the acrobat to carry out performances where he may walk on a vertical...