It’s not just the music that draws people to the Burnaby Blues + Roots Festival every year.
The annual festival at Deer Lake Park offers something for everyone, no matter his or her age. While the festival typically attracts an older crowd, there’s been a growing contingency of young people and families joining in on the festivities.
Burnaby resident Samantha Morrison and her husband were attending the Saturday festival for the first time. The couple won tickets through their six-year-old daughter’s school, and Morrison was initially worried it wouldn’t be kid-friendly, but when she went to pick up the tickets she was told, much to her surprise, kids under 12 get in free.
“That was great because it totally changed our plans,” Morrison said.
When the NOW caught up with Morrison, her daughter, Juliana, was busy creating and decorating a cardboard guitar at the Blues Family Area, a must-visit booth for every kid at the festival.
While there were fewer kids at the festival this year than in previous years, volunteer-turned-employee Shelayne Mulholland said that just means things are less hectic.
Festival regulars are quick to jump in, having often already planned what kind of guitar they want to make, Mulholland added.
Some of the kids this year opted to make and decorate a pair of wings, a bass guitar or a banjo at the crafts table, instead of just a standard guitar. Juliana, with her painted unicorn face, was sticking with a regular guitar, painted pink, silver and gold, for her first year.
“There’s lots of people who’ve come many years and they’re like, ‘I’ve been planning what shape of a guitar I’m going to make,’” Mulholland said.
The Blues Family Area was open from 1 to 7 p.m.
