6th Annual
KOMASKET MUSIC FESTIVAL
August 3, 4 & 5, 2007
Komasket Park, Vernon, BC Canada

 

General History

Komasket Park located on Okanagan lake, 13 kms down Westside road, has been a social gathering site for the Okanagan people for hundreds of years. In the spring of 2002 Thomas & Devaki Thomas members of local band Samsara visited Komasket park for the 1st time for their son’s school trip. During a friendship circle including speakers, kids, teachers & parents, First Nations school liaison Mollie Bono, a fan of Samsara’s music, suggested they play a concert in the park’s beautiful arbour. She had approached Devaki a few years back with the idea she and Barbadian turned Vernonite Hugh Carter had of organizing a spring gathering of music and art at this same site, but the timing was not ripe.
The offered idea to play a show on this sacred land set a fire burning, the site was so beautiful and the energy amazing. Thomas spent that night pacing excitedly into the early morning planning a summer concert for Samsara’s fans and quickly realized that he wanted to share this space with other musician friends and the next thing they knew a festival was taking shape. Thomas & Devaki enlisted the help and ideas of many community members including Mollie Bono, Vanessa Mitchell, Vixn Przybysz, Belva Stone, Rebecca Riplinger, Wayne LaRiviere, Robyn Irwin, Linda Ferguson & Wendy Antoine and the 1st annual Komasket Music Festival was born.

2002

The decision to organize a full scale music festival was made 6 weeks before the decided date so it was pure excitement & inspiration that made the event possible. The 1st Annual Komasket Music Festival was a gathering of musicians and art lovers from all over Canada and featured Samsara & hip hop artiste Kinnie Starr. The event was an overwhelming success and hundreds of people came out to support the Okanagan’s 1st Cultural and Independent Music Celebration!!

2003

2003 proved to be a difficult year in many ways. Samsara members experienced a great loss of a close family member and decided to forgo putting on Komasket for this year. Mollie Bono decided she wanted to go ahead and keep the festival going so she enlisted Jessie Brown to step in to coordinate and Thomas & Devaki kept involved as entertainment & media coordinators. This festival was shaping up to be a fantastic event with performers from all over Canada excited to play the 2nd annual Komasket Music Festival. Unfortunately the severe forest fire situation in the Okanagan made it unsafe to continue with the festival and it had to be cancelled a week before the scheduled date. It was very disheartening as so much time & effort was devoted by so many people.

Immediately after receiving the news of the cancellation, Thomas & Devaki organized a fire benefit concert with Samsara & special guests DJ Mr Mark, Celina Dueling & Friends & Juanita Zwick to be held on the Sunday originally scheduled for Komasket. The concert was held at Vernon’s Polson Park away from any fire hazards & the city came out in hundreds to support live music & the victims of the Forest fires. So in the end our dampened spirits were lifted through music & community!!!

2004

This year was an amazing growth spurt for Komasket as the word had spread bringing musicians artisans and festival goers from all over Canada. The energy of the festival was described as ‘peaceful, creative, community oriented, artistic and healing’ The weather caused some very wet performers and dancers and it proved that music can help overcome any obstacle as hundreds of people danced in the rain. The team that helped create this amazing vibe was Thomas & Devaki Thomas, Mollie Bono, Lilian Godfreidson, Sheila Snow, Jessie Brown, Kelsey Manuel, Christie King, Cheryl Simpson, Kiley Routley, Marc Demers, Ed & Laurae Walters & Family and the countless wonderful Volunteers!!!!

2005
This year will be the best ever and a great team is pushing forward. Through the growth spurts we are working hard to maintain the original intention of Komasket – to bring community together through quality music & dance & first nations culture in a peaceful & healing environment.


Our 2005 Team:

Festival Directors:
Thomas Thomas 
Devaki Thomas
Mollie Bono

Entertainment coordinators:
Thomas & Devaki Thomas


Sponsorship Coordinators:
Jessie Brown
Jayme McKillop

Vendor Coordinator:
Jessie Brown

Web Design
Sheila Snow
Troy Assaly

On-site Performer Coordinators :
Sheila Snow
Jayme McKillop

Kids Zone Coordinators:
Akira
Jodi Gerich

Promotions Coordinators:
Devaki Thomas

Festival Liaison:
Mollie Bono

Festival Treasurer:
Lillian Godfriedson

Acknowledgements:

Peter Chatterton & Liz Pearce ~ Cherryville Festival of the Arts organizers for their inspiration and guidance.
Mollie Bono for her guidance, inspiration & grounding
Hugh Carter for his input & ideas
Vixn Przybysz for her energy and entourage of volunteers
Belva Stone for her animated MC-ing and dedication
Robyn Irwin for her dedication & energy
Angela Roy & Saul Elton for all the last minute errands
Ed & Laurae Walters for their amazing feats
Chris McLeod & Rueben Crebo for comin' thru
Jessie Brown for her dedication, heart and hard work
Beth Gibson for her hard work & ideas
Vanessa Mitchell for her energy & hard work
Joan Vedan for sharing pow - wow dancing
Eric Mitchell for the countless hours, dedication & supplies
Wayne LaRiviere for his creativity & peaceful attitude
The Okanagan Indian Band for the use and upkeep of this amazing park
Thomas & Devaki Thomas for their pioneering vision & efforts in making this festival a reality
Jacob Chatterton for the extra sweating over the sound/stage
Rebecca Zipplinger for her art
Linda Ferguson for her great spirit and countless hours
Wendy Antoine for her dedication and guidance
The First Nation Friendship Centre for the encouragement and help
Rick Guenther for the dust tolerance and hard work
Amana Lee of Penticton¹s One World Rhythmn Music Festival
Rob & Maureen Irwin for their support
Free Spirit Drum Group for awakening the spirit with their beautiful songs
Lillian Godfreidson for her time & energy
Sheila Snow, Mica Lee Williams & Christie King for all of the amazing food for the performers
Christie King for keeping up the spirit & getting all those donations
Sheila Snow & Troy Assaly for their amazingly fast work on the website, web-hosting, and for their tireless efforts
Derek & Mike King for helping with the stage
Marc Demers for always coming through!
Cheryl Simpson for the amazing work & energy for the kidzone
Saul Elton for saving the Stage
Greg Miller for being an amazing rainman and sound tech.
Kelsey Manuel for her hard work, positive support & ideas
The Vernon Morning Star for being an amazing supporter of the Arts!

All the amazing performers who donated their time!!!
All the amazing volunteers who helped out when they really wanted to be dancing!!!!!