What: Bluegrass Wing Ding Concert & Dance
Where: Brackendale Art Gallery
When: Saturday, Feb. 7, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $15
The 18 th annual Brackendale Winter Eagle Festival will wrap up this Saturday evening with the Wing Ding bluegrass concert & dance at the Brackendale Art Gallery featuring Vancouver six-piece band The Mountain Bluebirds.
The event caps off the five-week festival which featured an eagle count, eagle walking tours, eagle-themed artwork, photographic displays, musical performances and a lecture series that attracted such distinguished guests as nature artist Robert Bateman and photojournalist Keith Thirkell.
Gallery owner Thor Froslev said the festival continues to grow, attracting more and more people every year and gaining greater attention from national and international media.
"It’s getting more and more popular," said Froslev. "You look at the licence plates and they’re Oregon, Washington, California."
Froslev said he received visitors from as far away as Germany, Japan and his native Denmark.
The festival also brought in approximately $2,000 toward the completion of the Eagle Tower, a 36-foot totem-style monument to the festival’s namesake species.
Last week the Squamish Chamber of Commerce recognized Froslev for "significant and enduring contribution to the social, environmental, artistic and economic tapestry of the community of Squamish and the public of Brackendale."
"There was a time when I walked down the street, the bank manager would cross the street to walk on the other side," said Froslev, who settled in Brackendale 30 years ago. "We’ve come a long way."
The Gallery is open seven days a week during the festival, and returns to its regular operating schedule of opening on weekends and statutory holidays only after Saturday’s event.
Tickets for the Wing Ding bluegrass concert and dance are $15, available in advance from Mostly Books in Squamish and the Brackendale Art Gallery.
For more information call 604-898-3333.
