The Kiwanis Music Festival has hit the right note for the past eight decades.
This year’s version of the festival marks the 80th.
Michael Gibbons, the chair of the festival, said it began in the wake of the Second World War.
“It started with a music day, coming off the Second World War,” he said. “It was so successful, they decided to make it into a yearly event.”
And it expanded over the years, going from a single day to the nearly two-week effort we see this year, running from April 13 to 24, with the Grand Concert taking place in mid-May.
“I think the only time it really shrunk was during Covid, and even then, we ran it virtually,” Gibbons said. “Our numbers have come up quite healthy.”
This year’s version will see 420 registrations and 720 participants, he said. That’s well up from about 250 registrations and roughly 400 participants who took part last year.
The festival features its share of Chatham-Kent performers, from vocalists to orators, to pianists, string players, bands and choirs. Participants also come from beyond our borders.
“We see a lot from Windsor-Essex, and some from the London area as well,” Gibbons said.
The focus is on youth, with performers as young as age five taking part.
“We always promote it as being a youth-forward event. The majority of our numbers are in the under-18 category,” Gibbons said. “But we welcome older ones as well.”
Performers up to the age of 24 can take part.
For Gibbons, he is still relatively new to the chair position, coming on board a couple of years ago.
“I wanted to get involved. I hit the ground running to start. I survived,” he joked about the steep learning curve. “They haven’t kicked me out yet.”
He said he thought he had a good grasp of what was involved, but he was wrong.
“It’s a much bigger job than you’d expect. I’ve been involved in other boards and this … the phrase ‘it takes a village’ definitely applies here,” Gibbons said.
With an army of volunteers, the show goes on. Gibbons said some of the volunteers that make the festival tick have been involved since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, that applies to him – in a way – as well.
“I was in the McKeough Public School Choir,” he said, referring back to the early 1980s. “I really didn’t appreciate the scale of it at that time. They just said, ‘Stand here, do this.’”
The talent that shows up every year never ceases to impress, Gibbons said.
“The abilities these kids have just blow me away,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of the trophies. You see a lot of names. And you recognize some of them. You get a sense. There are little things you see and you realize it’s part of that history,” he said.
The festival requires multiple venues to host. According to the Kiwanis’ website, they involve Chatham-Kent Secondary School, Dresden Area Central School, Holy Family School in Wallaceburg, Holy Trinity/St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Chatham, Indian Creek Road Public School, New St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church north of Chatham, St. Andrew’s United in Chatham, and Studio One.
The Grand Concert will fittingly take place in the Kiwanis Theatre in Chatham.
“Our name’s on the building,” Gibbons said. “We want to keep it there.”
The concert hits the stage May 19 at 7 p.m. The time delay from the end of the festival to the concert date is to allow for tabulation of results.
“We have about a month in between. We have to look at all the marks the adjudicators have given and have to figure out who won what prize,” Gibbons said. “We want to make sure we get that right.”
One area where the Kiwanis are looking for additional support is through the Friends of the Festival.
“We’d like to encourage more people to get involved,” Gibbons said.
Support from the Friends of the Festival helps fuel the event and fund prizes.
To get involved or learn more, Gibbons said people can reach out to any Kiwanian they know.
Over the past 80 years, a great deal has changed, but the festival cruises on.
“No matter what’s going on in the world, it’s always successful and well attended,” Gibbons said. “People look forward to it and seem to genuinely enjoy it.”
