Canada's insider blog

It’s Saturday night in Dawson City and the seemingly clumsy teenager population has doubled since yesterday. There were also more tents pitched on the outskirts of the Dawson City Music Festival grounds, and groups of people were dancing around makeshift drum circles inside the beer tent. 

My hair was not cooperating with the program:  A major downpour a few hours before had left a steam shower texture in the air that made everything frizzy.   Thanks to the thousands of people who trecked over the muddy surface, the grounds were covered in patches of water-filled holes in the shapes of shoes, sized 8 and up.

I was looking for Carolyne so we could watch two of the performances together: Vancouver’s Mother Mother and Montreal’s Socalled.  We were thinking it was time to give a little musical respect to our individual provinces.  But with Carolyne nowhere in sight–just yet– I started making eye contact with a few colourful characters, eventually making small talk with some of them in the process. 

Like a group of four best friends from different parts of the world (the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia) dressed as space age, hippie-cowboys.  They just stumbled into Dawson on their way North.  (I especially liked the one wearing a green polyester suit, cowboy hat and sunglasses.)  Or Andre, the Dawson native (and self-proclaimed urban-transient), who was there to support some friends.  (As Andre explained, the city’s perpetual daylight attracts creative minds, and those seeking a change from large cities, but their stay is not long-lived, hence the term dubbing them urban-transients.)

Carolyne sighting!

We were now together, under the Big Top of the main stage, tapping our feet in unison to the groovy beats of Mother Mother.  The high-energy music had the entire audience in a craze.  Untamed pieces of dreadlocks were flying all over the place, and little kids were bouncing plastic beach balls around the wooden-dance floor.  It was midnight when Socalled took the stage and the sounds of the klezmer, the clarinet and heavy funk-beats were well received by the crowds. 

As we were wildly clapping and trying to keep up with the rhythm to some success, we were really having the time of our lives.  At this moment, I know Carolyne and I were fully connected in this experience and we got to share it through music.