Photo courtesy Kris Krug

Prince George, B.C. – Preparations are coming along quite nicely for the return of Coldsnap later this month.

Now in its ninth year, artistic director Sue Judge says she’s looking forward to having full control over the event after last year’s was organized by the Canada Winter Games.

“We’re back in the saddle of doing our regular format and having full control over what’s going on,” she says.

Photo courtesy Bob Steventon

“We helped out a lot with the festival portion of the games but we didn’t have our traditional sponsors and it was a longer festival and it was outdoors which we don’t tend to do. So they had a staff in place that was doing most of the leg work.”

Judge says this year’s lineup will feature 29 bands and seven musical genres.

“We even have a band from Australia, he’s quite famous there (Jeff Lang). And he was touring through Canada at the time so we managed to secure him for a great blues night at the Prince George Playhouse (Jan. 29).”

She says they even have a Jazz night planned (Jan. 24). “Which is something we don’t often have.”

Judge says another great addition to the week are the musical workshops on offer.

“They come in different formats, it’s a big tradition in Canadian festivals to get some of the artists together to talk about what they do and play some music.”

She says most of those workshops will take place downtown but notes there are also workshops penciled in for CNC and UNBC.

The festival runs from January 22 to January 30. For the full lineup of the week’s events click here.