Flin Flon’s biggest annual music event is about a month away - and while nobody knows how this new edition of Blueberry Jam will taste, we already know the ingredients.
The musician schedule for this year’s Blueberry Jam Music Gathering was announced July 8, filled with a long list of local and northern talent throughout the weekend-long fest. The schedule is likely to change or be updated before the official start of the event August 9 and may even change during the festival itself, depending on performer availability, technical glitches, weather or other reasons.
As of this week, the official schedule for the event will include musicians at the main stage area from 4 p.m.-12 a.m. August 9, 12 p.m.-1 a.m. August 10 and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. August 11. The Blueberry Wine Bar venue at the Rotary Wheel will open at 5 p.m. August 9 and run until 10:30 p.m. that night, with more performances from 2 p.m.-10 p.m. August 10 and 1 p.m.-7 p.m. August 11.
According to the schedule, the event will begin with MaryLou Spooner taking to the main stage at 4 p.m. Friday, with Katrin Kolt and Gord Munro opening up the wine bar at 5 p.m.
The party will continue until Sam Dufour-Jarvis and friends close down the wine bar at 9:30 p.m., then will end for the night after RockKut play the main stage at 11 p.m.
Things will return at noon Saturday on the main stage, with Deck to Deck opening the show for the day and more than 12 hours of local bands taking to the stage. The Wildewomen (a quintet made up of Noelle Drimmie, Anna Harrison, Kristen Imrie, Kim Jones and Emily Sparling) will reopen the wine bar at 2 p.m. Saturday - the group will then head to the main stage area for a 4 p.m. set.
The last sets of the night will take place at the wine bar area at 9 p.m., when Rob Mote and company will play the Rotary Wheel, then at midnight on the main stage, where Flinty’s Hammer will cap off the evening.
As has been the case for the first several years of the festival, Sunday’s music will start with a gospel event at 11 a.m. before a third day of further music, opened at noon by Bob Njegovan at the main stage and Mark Kolt and Joanna Dauk at the wine bar at 1 p.m. The wine bar will shut down for the weekend at 6 p.m. with Dufour-Jarvis and company, while the main stage will continue until The Ben Project, led by Eli Plamondon, shuts the festival down with a set at 9:15 p.m.
The Blueberry Jam Music Gathering has been held each summer at the Flinty Campground since 2018, taking an altered form during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past several years, the show has included a pair of stages in the area of the campground, centred on the main stage, built in the campground ahead of the first festival. The show is a spiritual successor to the Tennent’s Musician Reunion in Saskatchewan, a long-time weekend gathering that attracted musicians from across Canada.
While the event slate is full for this year, volunteers are still needed to hold this year’s Jam - anyone able to volunteer is asked to contact members of the organizing committee or contact the official Jam website at flinflonblueberryjam.ca.
