Rock Creek wildfire cancels music festival — so local band Tiger Moon aids fire victims instead
Kelowna folk band Tiger Moon were due to make debut music festival appearance at Ponderosa Music Festival
The Rock Creek wildfire wrought devastation as it raged through the small B.C. community recently. The local Ponderosa Music Festival has also been cancelled, but rather than sulk about it, local band Tiger Moon will be helping wildfire victims instead.
The Kelowna band were due to make their debut music festival appearance at Ponderosa but organizers cancelled on Wednesday after the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary expressed concerns.
"We are in no position to put the safety of our guests, staff and others at risk," organizers wrote in a Facebook post.
"We also have no intention to go against the recommendations of those who have up-to-date information on the status of the fires and who are working hard to protect the safety of those in the area."
"It's pretty disappointing but it's the right call," said Tiger Moon singer Dan Tait, who plans to head down to the area affected by the wildfire anyway, with supplies instead of instruments.
"I put an offer out this week on the Rock Creek Fire Information Group on Facebook just offering to shuttle anything down if anybody needed anything.
"I'll be going down with a load of toys for any children who may have lost theirs," he said.
Now the evacuation order has been lifted and people can return to their homes, Tait and his band members have also offered to help people clean up their properties.
"We were hoping to do what we could to help, especially since we were going to be part of a big party in the Rock Creek community during a very sensitive time," he said.
"We're in beautiful B.C. where there's festivals every week of the summer, so there will be another one."
To hear the full interview with Dan Tait, listen to the audio labelled: Ponderosa Festival cancelled due to Rock Creek fire.