John Arcand Fiddle Fest

A capital campaign to build a permanent R.O.O.F over the festival’s main stage venue.

Ah…success! In 1998 John Arcand, a little known fiddle player at the time, started a festival of fiddle music and dance to honour his passion for the fiddle and his Metis culture. That first festival was a modest affair, financed by John himself with $750 of his own money. It took place on his acreage and drew 350 people. Most of them were friends and family; the artists performed for free; and the John Arcand Fiddle Fest was born.

Ten years and nine events later – each one better than the one before -- the festival is now firmly established. The audience has grown to more than ten times its original size. The 60’ x 150’ tent purchased several years ago no longer holds the large audiences that gather for main stage performances and dances and will not accommodate further growth. Prairie winds and repeated set up and take down have worn it thin in many places.

To address the audience capacity challenge and related matters of comfort and safety for participants and musicians, the Fiddle Fest board of directors voted to undertake a project to build a permanent R.O.O.F over the main stage venue.

The chosen design is a modest but effective and prairie festival appropriate pole barn, engineered to ensure public safety. Suppliers have estimated costs to level the land, build the structure and install a dance floor at $300,000. This is Phase I. Following the successful completion of Phase I, the Festival will undertake Phase II – the construction of user-friendly bleachers to expand capacity even further and provide space for growth over a longer term.

John Arcand Fiddle Fest, Inc. a registered non-profit corporation will own the structure. It will be erected on land leased from John and Vicki Arcand on their acreage just west of Saskatoon on the Pike Lake Highway. Once complete, the Festival will not only use the structure for its own purposes, but also rent it out to others. It will be an excellent venue for other large outdoor summertime events and a source of additional revenue for John Arcand Fiddle Fest, Inc., contributing to its sustainability and capacity for programming to serve the community for the longer term.

Aptly named the Roof Over Our Festival (R.O.O.F) Fund, the capital campaign was launched in November of 2006 and will continue until enough money has been raised to finance the project. The organization hopes to have Phase I complete by August of 2008 in time for next year’s edition of the festival.

The Festival is undertaking a number and variety of activities to support the campaign. These include letter writing campaigns to support ongoing collection of donations from individuals, businesses, and groups; special event fundraising and partnerships with friends of the festival, many of whom are choosing to support the campaign with fund raising activities of their own in their home communities.

Make a personal or corporate donation at any time.

By credit card online at www.picatic.com (search capital campaign)
By cheque payable to John Arcand Fiddle Fest, Inc.
Box 3, Site 302, RR #3

Host a Fundraising event or activity with proceeds to the R.O.O.F Fund.
Contact Vicki Arcand to report your activity and to arrange for support via promotions on www.johnarcandfiddlefest.com; festival merchandise for prizes, etc.
- Stay posted to this page for updates on new fundraising activities you can participate in – like buying a ticket to a dance or for a raffle.
- Tell everyone you know about the good work this festival does for the community and encourage them to give what they can. Every donation counts, big or small!

Each and every contributor to the R.O.O.F Fund will be acknowledged permanently on the festival site once the structure is built. Donors will be acknowledged alphabetically within the following levels of contribution:

Larger donations are also being sought from businesses and individuals that would like to contribute at a higher level for special recognition. Please contact Vicki Arcand at 306.382.0111 if you would like to explore this further.

The Fiddle Fest is a registered non-profit corporation (No. 101021146), but not a registered charity, so unfortunately we are unable to issue tax receipts for these contributions.

Thank you for helping keep the traditions of fiddle music, dance, and culture alive…your gift is appreciated beyond words.