Prince George, B.C. – The resilience of the people of Likely will be shining through this weekend as the community hosts the Likely Music Festival this B.C. Day long weekend.

It was on B.C. Day, August 4^th, 2014 when the wall of the tailings pond at the Mount Polley gold and copper mine collapsed, spilling 24 million cubic metres of water, tailings and soil down Hazeltine Creek and into Quesnel Lake.  It was an event which B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak, just this week, called “an unprecedented environmental disaster.”

The effects on the residents of Likely and operators of resorts in that area have been devastating in terms of lost jobs and income, but perhaps more importantly, in terms of the destruction of a pristine habitat for fish and wildlife and, indeed, for humans.  However, resilience is the theme this weekend as the people of Likely reflect on the year past and what they can do in the present and the future.

The Likely Music Festival is a brand new event running today and tomorrow at Cedar Point Park in Likely, with plenty of room for camping.  Festival co-ordinator  Lawna Bourassa says “we’ve got quite a few bands coming, we’ve got a full line-up Saturday and Sunday, from 10:15 in the morning till 10:30 at night Saturday, and Sunday 10 in the morning, which will be gospel for the first few hours, till 10:30 again Sunday night.”

“We want people to join the community because we are celebrating our resilience, so we’re just really looking for a lot of people to come and enjoy the music festival.  It’ll be a great time.  This will be our first year for this and we’re hoping that if we have a really good turnout we can continue it yearly.”

Bourassa says as far as the music is concerned “we have everything basically.  Soft rock, country, folk music, we have this gentleman who is going to do yoddling, we have reggae, Afro-Cuban, gypsy, some bluegrass, we have just about everything.”

Bourassa says the festival will be taking place at the ball field at Cedar Point Park and adds it’s not difficult to find.  “Actually right from 150 Mile there are signs that tell you the directions to Cedar Point Park.”

She says “there are camping facilities available within our campground which is right there.  There’s camping for $20 a night and then there will be overflow camping available.  There’s outhouses and everything you require, we also have our museum right there, and there will be vendors.  There will be a food vendor and everything you need will be in place.”  You should note there is no electricity at the campground.

The charge for the Music Festival is $30 per person per day or $50 for the weekend.  Entry for children 12 and under is by donation.

Bourassa says the bands and other musicians providing the entertainment will be paid, “but they have given us a very good rate on it to help with this.”  She says “any money above that we do collect will go towards installing a new well within the park itself.”

So what are organizers hoping to see in terms of a turnout this weekend?  “I would love to see, we need 200 to break even”, says Bourassa, “but I would love to see at least 300 if we can.  That would be so nice.”

We asked Lawna about the effect the Mt. Polley breach had on the people of Likely.  “I guess being ground zero it affected everyone, in different ways.  Just the morale of the whole town went down, it was very hard on us.  And now, doing this it’s kind of bringing our spirits up, we’re just trying to do it all together to get our spirits back to where they need to be.  So ya, it was hard on people definitely.”

She says resort operators “lost a lot of income coming in due to the mine working and then with the spill itself they lost the tourism.  Now that the mine is open again I see that we do have miners coming back in so I’m sure it will help businesses.  But yes for that whole year people did suffer, especially the businesses.”

Perhaps surprisingly Bourassa had some interesting comments about tourist traffic in the Likely area.  We asked whether it will be difficult for resort operators to attract tourists in light of the environmental damage caused by the breach.  “I’m hoping not.  They did lose regulars in the beginning.  I’m hoping this year that picks up for them again.”

“I do notice that we have a lot of tourists coming in, which is really great news.  I mean we still have our own people here that have concerns but as for tourists we’re seeing quite a few and they don’t seem to have a lot of concerns.”  She was not sure why the tourist traffic is steady, however.  “I don’t know if it’s just to come and see (the results of the spill) or if it’s just they actually want to see what Likely is really like, because it is a beautiful place.  It is positive and I’m hoping they’re coming just to help us get back where we need to be, knowing that we did have this happen.”

Bourassa says the spirits of Likely’s residents are slowly starting to pick up.  “Yes I see that, they’re starting to feel better.  I mean it’s summer and it gets you outdoors so people start to connect again and I guess just after the initial shock, now that a year has gone by people are starting to heal.  So I do see a lot of spirits picking up.  I still see those with a lot of concerns, I mean that’s natural.  But overall I feel that people are starting to feel a lot better about this.”

The Likely Music Festival, running today and tomorrow in Likely, B.C., should help raise those spirits a little further.