Gladstone Music & Arts Festival is back

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By Miranda Leybourne

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The Gladstone Music & Arts Festival is happening again -- for the 88th time -- on Apr. 11, 17-19 and 24-26. Encompassing mainly student talent from within the Pine Creek School Division (although there are some adult entries, too), performers from the communities of McGregor, Austin, Plumas, Langruth and Gladstone will show off their talent at this popular community event.

Michelle Teichroeb is the secretary for the festival. She says she’s excited to see an increase in performances at Manitoba’s longest running music festival.

“There are four main components to the festival: the band festival, the speech arts festival, the vocal festival and the piano festival,” she explains. “The band festival includes band performances as well as solos and duets. The speech arts sessions will follow the band sessions. School classrooms have entered their speech choirs and will recite poetry as a group. There are also a variety of classes for solos and duets such as poetry reading, prose readings -- excerpts from a story -- reader’s theatre, original poems or stories and prepared speeches.”

From what she has seen of the entry numbers so far, Teichroeb is confident that there will be a larger number of performers at this year’s festival than in years past.

 “The number of piano and speech arts entries are up significantly from last year,” she says. “The festival committee is happy to see the increased number of entries and participation.”

Accredited adjudicators will select a first place entry from each class or group of classes, with the winners being awarded medallions. The sessions are open to everyone in the community to come and enjoy. Teichroeb says that individual sessions are $2 per entry, while a day pass costs $5. The event will take place at the Gladstone High School, WMCI, the Gladstone Elementary School, and the Gladstone United Church. The band festival will take place on Apr. 11, the speech and vocal competitions on Apr. 17-19, and the piano festival on Apr.24-26.