The Magnificent River Rats Festival will get Athabascans off their feet and jiving again this year, and already event organizers have a number of entertainers lined up.
President Rod Foster announced that he has a number of performing groups confirmed. They include country rock group The Whisky Boyz from the Edmonton/St. Albert area and Julian Austin from Vancouver.
The Wajjo African Drummers from Edmonton will also be performing, an African group of singers, dancers and even bagpipes incorporated into their performance.
Dean Foster from Slave Lake has also been confirmed.
ìThere is a lot of work involved in this, and Iím excited,î said Foster.
Last yearís festival was a great success and saw an investment of at least $100,000; Foster said this year he expects to exceed that this year.
Foster said a helpful investment comes in the form of the Festival and Events Tourism Growth Program, administered by Tourism, Parks and Recreation through the Alberta Government.
The programís guidelines indicate it was ìestablished to assist festivals and events in Alberta (to) realize their tourism potentialî in order to ìgive people a reason to visit, return, and explore surrounding communities.î
The Alberta Government has allocated $400,000 to the program for the 2012-2013 fiscal year; through a ìcompetitive application process,î organizations are chosen and may qualify for anywhere between $25,000 to $40,000 each depending on the ìlocation, scope and size of the festival of event,î according to the program guidelines.
The three-day event currently supported by Al-Pac and Cenovus, which the president refers to as ìcomfortableî sponsors, has brought an economic infusion into the Athabasca area from outside investment since the festival began in 1996.
