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Keno City Music Festival rocks in rain and shine

The Keno City Music and Film Festival took place over the weekend.
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Bands performed all afternoon and night on the Keno main stage. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

The Keno City Music and Film Festival took place over the weekend.

More than 20 bands performed on the Keno stage and vendors sold merchandise, jewelry and crafts.

Attendees hang out around a campfire near the main stage on Aug. 6. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)
Attendees hang out around a campfire near the main stage on Aug. 6. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

The road leading from the stage and field was lined with cars by nightfall on Aug. 5. About a hundred tents were nestled in the bushes along the road.

Musicians performed from mid-afternoon to around 2 in the morning on both Friday and Saturday. The eclectic mix of music branched from solo singer-songwriters to full country and rock lineups.

Jewelry and silkscreen work was available at the artisan vendor tents. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)
Jewelry and silkscreen work was available at the artisan vendor tents. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

Whitehorse-based Cherie Coquette brought Babes in the Bush to the stage on both nights. The multi-performer burlesque show included an audience participatory orgasm-impression contest.

Keno Music Festival attendees watch daytime sets on Aug. 6. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)
Keno Music Festival attendees watch daytime sets on Aug. 6. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

Pouring rain nearly all weekend made a muddy pit in front of the stage, which didn’t dissuade anyone from dancing. There was rope-skipping, crowd-surfing and a honky tonk country mosh pit.

Short films were shown at the community hall. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)
Short films were shown at the community hall. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

A film festival also took place inside the Keno City community hall. It featured shorts from local filmmakers and showed a werewolf’s existential crisis, an ad hoc bungee jump business and a dystopian future in which climate refugees flood Dawson City.

The festival was free to attend, with funds from merch sales going directly to the performing artists.

Hailey Colbourne and Cud Eastbound sell merchandise. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)
Hailey Colbourne and Cud Eastbound sell merchandise. (Gabrielle Plonka/Yukon News)

Contact Gabrielle Plonka at gabrielle.plonka@yukon-news.com