Deep in the Foothills of Alberta, a small but growing event is melding the best parts of live music and camping in the middle of nowhere. Located about 50 km west of Sundre, Alta, the Mukwah Jamboree is entering its fourth year of musical shenanigans, boasting a bigger lineup than ever of diverse talent. Calgary musician Danny Vescarelli is in charge of programming the fest and has been one of the driving forces from the get-go. He says the festival got its start not as something labelled as a new yearly event, but just as a party for friends.

“I was actually approached to do the festival by the campground because I have history with the owner [of Mukwah Tours] and a couple of the raft guides out there,” he recalls. “Five years ago, I just ran into them in downtown Calgary and they said it was someone’s birthday and they just wanted to throw a huge party with a bunch of bands.”

“At the last minute, with less than a month of planning, we just threw something together,” he continues. “We knew it was going to be fun, but it was going to be a bit more of a ramshackle event. But then it ended up getting flooded out, so it didn’t end up happening. I almost look at that as our practice year, where we got to put everything together on a rush basis. It sucked at the time, but the bands got a year to get better, which was nice.”

Calgary’s The Firm Handshake has been a constant at the event, playing every year since its inception. The guys have been fortunate enough to see the evolution of the festival firsthand. Guitarist Steve Rozitis fondly remembers the first year, though his band returned with a couple less speakers than it brought.

“There were only six or eight bands the first year and no music on the Friday night,” Rozitis says. “We all played Saturday afternoon, and then on Sunday all the bands went rafting and it poured rain and all our gear got soaked.”

Despite the rain-soaked equipment, singer John Groenen praises Mukwah’s feel and dedication to a genuine festival atmosphere.

“It’s a festival in the true sense of the word because you don’t have to worry about paying $6 for a drink, you don’t have to worry about fences and where you can and can’t go or how you’re going to get home,” Groenen says. “You can just show up and do what you do and that’s so refreshing.”

While the festival mentality fosters an enjoyable and memorable experience for Mukwah patrons, the event has taken on another role, providing many up-and-coming bands with the invaluable chance to play a well-attended gig in an unconventional setting.

“For new bands, it shows the possibilities of what being in a band and playing music can bring you,” Vescarelli says. “I’m sure some bands want to come because they think there will be an A&R rep hiding behind a tree or something, but that’s not why you would come to Mukwah. It’s for the kind of person who will really get off on the fact that you just played in the Foothills.”

These opportunities are definitely indicative of the festival’s strengths, but a large part of Mukwah’s charm is its growing community. From the trust bestowed upon patrons to respect the site to the continued generosity of the people at Mukwah Tours and the bands volunteering their time to contribute to the festival even off the stage, this camaraderie seems, to a large extent, to keep the festival alive.

“This year, I’m lucky enough to have a crew out there that was a band who played at the festival last year, The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra, who are doing a food tent,” Vescarelli says. “They’re from Victoria and there are more festivals that are probably similar to this out in the West Coast — the kind of festivals that are under the radar and aren’t hosting huge headliners. So you get someone with more experience with these kinds of things and they go, ‘Well, this is great, but, where’s the food tent?’ And then they just offer to do it.”

With continued co-operation, it’s easy to see why Mukwah Jamboree is becoming an event that brings artists and festival-goers back year after year.

“We go out early enough to get our favourite spot every year,” Groenen says. “Apart from being a choice gig for us, it’s probably the biggest event on our social calendars.”