It was an electrifying Saturday in Roche Percee this weekend, as the village hosted the Coal Creek Festival. Back for its second year with a new location, it was a party filled with local music and great entertainment.
"On an operations standpoint, things have run incredibly smooth throughout the day and we're so thankful for that. On an entertainment standpoint, we really have had the best entertainment that you can find in Western Canada. And that's been right since we opened our doors at 11 a.m. through the entire day. It has just been one amazing act after the other. You keep thinking, like, 'I don't know if you can top this artist,' and then the next one comes on and it's like, wow. We're just getting better and better. So, really a great day out here," shared Robert Godfrey with Lemon Wedge Marketing, one of the organizers of the event.
The festival was jam-packed with artists from all over Saskatchewan, with some even close to home. Daniel Espelien and his son, Maverick, based out of Estevan, opened the day with original music from their band, Porphyrios. Hailing from a farm near Bengough, Karissa Hoffart lit up the stage with a mix of her original music and timeless covers of classic country music. The Munro Patrick Band, based out of the southeast, rocked the stage later into the night before Lisa Moen and The Steadies took the stage.
"We are so thankful for the amazing artists that we have featured on our Coal Creek Festival stage this year. When we were putting this together, we knew that we wanted a really top-tier set list for the day. And we're so happy with everyone that agreed to come out to our festival. Obviously, being a new festival, we don't have a lot to go on as far as our history, but these artists took a chance on our festival. We're so thankful for that - and they have brought their A-game. I think that really sets a precedent for future Coal Creek Festivals. I think we're just going to see better and better talent, even though it seems hard to get better than what we've had today," Godfrey added.
Logistics were a bit of a challenge, Godfrey added, as the festival had to be moved to Roche Percee due to its growth. The majority of the challenges stemmed from the lack of services available right at the festival site inside the Roche Percee Regional Park. However, he said that everything went off without a hitch thanks to their suppliers and partners for the event.
"With any event that you put on, there is an insane amount of logistics that go into putting it on, and that definitely was made bigger this year, moving to a new location. Our festival location this year is in the beautiful Roche Percee campground, but we are in an area that has no services, no power, no water, nothing. Basically, it's an open field that we have converted into a festival space. And so, the logistics have been pretty big. Doing something for the first time, you never really know if you're going to have everything. How much do you need of certain supplies? How much space do you need, parking, all these things? So, going into it, there definitely was a bit of extra stress, but we've been really happy."
Now that the festival has wrapped up for 2025, the organizers are looking towards 2026. While the event was a success in their books, Godfrey noted some small logistical changes he's looking at for next year.
"I think as far as changes, we might adjust the start times to work a little bit better for people's schedules. We may look at different date options. Obviously, there are some conflicting events that are going on today. But obviously, that's one of the biggest challenges with any event you put on, is trying to find a date where you don't have a lot of conflicts. There would be minor setup things that we would change. But overall, with how smoothly everything has run today, I don't anticipate there will be a lot of changes."
In partnership with the Southeast Saskatchewan Economic Partnership, the goal for the event was to increase tourism interest in the Roche Percee area. Godfrey said that with the event's success, it's a testament to that goal for the organization. "Getting to see people come to the area is exactly what we want. And we're hopeful, doing this in future years, that we can just make this bigger and bigger and have people travelling from all over the place to see this event. The entertainment is definitely worth it, but the whole atmosphere is worth travelling from near or far."
"The feedback that we've had today has been so amazing. We have had people come to our festival that have just praised how great the location is. They've loved the entertainment, the food vendors and everything that we have to do out here, which has been really cool. We've had people talk to us that attend a lot of festivals and have even been part of planning other music festivals in the province. They have said, 'Wow, this is a really amazing event to have.' So I think that's really exciting for us as an organization, but also for the area to be able to start a brand new music festival and have it go so well."