By Anne Jardine

Instead of their usual three-day extravaganza, last year the Steamboat Mountain Music Festival went online because of COVID-19. This year – for the festival’s tenth anniversary – Steamboat Mountain Music Society will be putting the festival on a double-disk CD, “Shake A Tree,” featuring all local performers and all original tunes.

But just to keep the live music spirit alive, on Saturday, July 3, one of the festival’s major sponsors, Invermere Home Hardware, lent its rolling stage truck (pictured above), with Al Miller as the driver, and the show went on tour around Edgewater.

The HH stage was accompanied by Martin Wartbichler on his traffic control tractor. The music started at noon and rolled around to several locations in Edgewater with performers singing and playing their tunes at each stop, with audience gathering and following the entourage.

It was a small event, with about 50-100 people at some of the stops.

This mini-fest went on until 4 p.m., so it was short, but sweet. They did it without admission gates, food or drink concessions, or craft vendors. Because of public health uncertainties, they did not book a huge roster of artists. However, they will have a huge roster of local musicians on the CD when it comes out in the fall.

Their sound guys are still in the studio recording process. They’ll announce more details when the final production timelines are in place. They’re planning on a big outdoor CD Release Party for “Shake A Tree” sometime in September or October.

Festival organizers agree that steaming along for ten years has been challenging, but really fun! Local music is on the rise. Steamboat Society hopes to be properly festifying in Edgewater Park and Hall next summer.

Photos submitted

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