Interlake Spectator — Adjudicators judged almost 1,000 performances before they handed out the silverware at the recently completed 24th edition of the Evergreen Festival of the Arts.

They pared the number down to 20 competition winners who displayed their talents to a packed audience at the festival Hi-Lites Concert May 6 in the gym at Gimli High School.

At the end of the concert, pianist Deena Grier was presented with the Kiwanis Trophy for best overall performance in the two-week festival.

Grier received the Kiwanis award from James Hull, as well as the Town of Winnipeg Beach Trophy for best advanced piano solo from Larry Moore. T

he top pianist, a Riverton native who has just finished first year music at the University of Manitoba, selected the piano piece “Prelude” (Ondine) for her winning performances.

President Wanda Sparkes said the annual festival was again a success, although entries were down slightly from last year. “We think this was because the entry deadline was a bit earlier this time,” said Sparkes, a teacher at the Arborg Early-Middle Years School. “With earlier entries, we were able to split the piano and speech competitions, enabling performers to take part in both.”

Sparkes said it takes a core committee of 12 and a total of about 50 volunteers to run the festival in Arborg, Riverton, Gimli and Winnipeg Beach. Besides piano and speech arts, there are competitions in dance, vocal and instrumental sections, plus Orff, an ensemble combination of music, dance and drama.

Most entrants are Evergreen School Division students and classes, but there are usually a few graduates as well. “We are immediately starting to make plans for our 25th anniversary festival in 2005,” said Sparkes, the festival’s president for the past three years. “We would like to do something special. If more volunteers want to join our committee, we are open to new members.”

Roger Newman