This past weekend we attended the Malakwa Music Festival. This is one writers story about his journey there.
August 15th 2026
It was the big day, the long anticipated Malakwa Music Festival. And just like any other day I awoke at 1:30 am, that’s when I always wake up for work, only 13hours and 15Minutes to go.
I paced through my kitchen-dining room combo rehearsing all the hard hitting questions the team had prepared for me. They had done a tremendous amount of research on the bands. This included two Whiskey And Rain Bands. First one from Eugene Oregon and then the correct one from Vernon. We knew so much about these bands, there was no way this could wrong.
I had four pieces of toast for breakfast and then did some other things that weren’t important to the story. Around 10:30 am I started to get ready. I packed my things, Paper, pencil, 12oz water, change of socks and underwear. You never really know what you need when going to a festival. I got dressed and headed for the door. I’m supposed to meet the rest of the team by the golf course at noon. We want to get there early and were worried about finding a ride.
I head for the door and realize I don’t have shoes appropriate for doing bands interviews. In a panic I call the editor. He tells me not to worry. He says there’s lots of options in Sicamous for the acquisition of band interviewing shoes. He says my best bet is probably the Sicamous United Church Thrift Shop. Its just down the road and opens at 11:30 am. I can stop on my way to our hitching spot.
I arrived at the church like a door crasher on two dollar bag day and V-lined straight for the shoe department. I was in luck. A beautiful pair of brown leather, docker, band interviewing shoes, size 10. I gave them a quick try on and deemed them an acceptable level of comfort for the evening. I decided I should check the dancing treads when I realized why these beautiful, probably Italian leather, shoes were in the thrift shop. Somebody had stepped in poo.
I quickly weighed the pros and cons of attending the festival while smelling like “I” had stepped in dog shit, and decided it was worth the risk to look this good. When I arrived at the till the cashier instantly complimented my purchase. She also has an eye for fashion. I could tell she was also a dancer when she turned them over to check the dancing tread.
That was when my second stroke of luck came. She was much more mortified then I, at the sight of the canine excrement. Needlessly ashamed that these shoes had made it to the shelf she announced she could not sell me these shoes, but they were free if I wanted them! My editor is going to be so pleased. When on the phone with him he had said “we don’t really have a band interview shoe budget”, before he finally offered me a solution.
When I caught up with the team it was just in time. Some guy named “Trigger” had pulled over to give us a lift in his strange van. He didn’t stop talking the whole ride and we could hardly hear him over the music. We made a list of some of the songs he played and you can listen to them here.
He dropped us off downtown Malakwa in front of what he called “The Post Office”. It kinda looked like a school to us, but he said “you can receive packages here” and we all agreed that, that made it a post office. We followed the signs down the road towards the festival when we realized Malakwa also had an option for the acquisition of band interviews shoes. Man, Malakwa’s sweet, we thought collectively to ourselves.
When we finally arrived at the festival, it had taken us so long to get down here, that the gates were already open. This was good because we wouldn’t have to use our press passes to get in, and we could keep our identities concealed.
On entry we were immediately distracted by all the sweet vendors but quickly regained our focus. We were there to interview the bands.
We scanned the crowd and quickly spotted the Bass player from Headway. We knew it was him because we had studied his profile picture fiercely. When we approached the stage he acknowledged us and came over. He already knew who we were but seemed confused as to why we were “ALL” there. We explained we like to encourage a team environment and we do everything together. He agreed to the interview once he had some free time. Success!
Part 2:The Malakwa Music Festival: Austin Miller, Ryan Guilbeault
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