By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Friends, family and music lovers filled the Sacred Heart Parish Hall on Wednesday for the grand finale concert for this year’s Central Saskatchewan Music Festival (CSMF).

The program featured 31 music and speech arts performances, introduced one by one by emcee Sharon Riecken.

This was the 56th year for the annual festival, which ran from March 21 to 23 and saw an increase to 140 entries this year, compared to 101 the previous year.

“We were just ecstatic,” said festival president Nancy Wilkins in response to the growth in participation.

She also suggested that the festival take a cue from Lethbridge and change its name to reflect the growing contribution of the speech arts performers, which represented more than a third of the entries.

Riecken proved an affable host, offering a quip or a compliment for each performance.

In response to Reece Johnson and Finn Low’s “If I Were in Charge of the World,” she expressed approval, adding, “Just hope it’s not Trump.”

She also said the festival is “an awesome opportunity for our young people to show their unique talents year after year.”

Deputy mayor Tyler Alexander brought greetings on behalf of town council and paid tribute to the volunteers and teachers behind the festival, as well as the hard work of the students.

He recalled taking part in the festival years earlier and added, “I’m so happy to see it still going strong.”

While some of the Grade 2 and Grade 5 speech arts students were missing from Wednesday night’s concert, their comrades went on for a successful performance despite their diminished numbers.

For a complete list of performers and awards plus a selection of photos, please see the March 28 edition of The Davidson Leader.