LUNA Fest brings ‘contrast’ to Revelstoke’s downtown core

LUNA Fest 2024 is putting the focus on contrast this season with a line up of women and non-binary led musical artists for LUNA Sound, art installations that play with shadows and performances that pit tragedy and humor together. This year’s theme highlights the inherent contrast LUNA Fest creates in Revelstoke’s downtown.

“Luna just inherently is a contrast of light and dark,” Nora Hughes, Arts Revelstoke general manager told Revelstoke Mountaineer. “We light up downtown in all kinds of crazy different ways.”

The growth of LUNA Fest this year, with multiple stages and performers from across Canada shows the love Revelstoke has for the summer festival, Hughes explained.

“We have a lot of really amazing local sponsorships to help make this big community-run festival happen.”

LUNA Sound, Friday, Sept. 20 

This year LUNA Sound, LUNA Fest’s live music night will host 11 musicians on four different stages around town. Attendees can pick a stage and take in all the shows there or bounce between stages based on what musicians they want to see. Sets will perform at Traverse Lounge, The Last Drop Pub, River City Pub and The Regent Hotel’s Selkirk room.

Miriam Manley, former Arts Revelstoke artistic and executive director, returned to create the programming for LUNA Sound, helping bring Canadian artists Kimmortal, iskwē and more to the four stages.

“We’re so excited to have [Manley] back doing her programming,” Hughes said. “She understands LUNA better than anybody. We definitely have her to credit for the amazing lineup that we have this year.”

Manley and LUNA Fest are focusing on bringing new artists to Revelstoke.

“[Manley] has done an incredible job of finding some of the best up and coming musicians from Canada to be here,”Hughes said.

Tickets for LUNA Sound are on sale on the ArtsRevelstoke.com website. Shows are 19+, tickets are $65.

City Stage (The River City Pub)

9 p.m. – 10 p.m. KIMMORTAL

10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. Featurette

12 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. SIFI & Willoway

LUNA Moth Stage (Traverse)

9 p.m. – 10 p.m. Aza Nabuko

10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. iskwē

12 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. Kytami & Phonik Ops

Skull Stage (The Last Drop)

9 p.m. – 10 p.m. Shawnee Kish

10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. Miesha and the Spanks

12 p.m. – 1:30 a.m. Night Howl

Constellation Stage (Regent Hotel Selkirk Room)

9 p.m. – 10 p.m. Tonye Aganaba

10:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. The Della Kit

LUNA Arts, Saturday, Sept. 21

This year’s LUNA Arts will contrast previous years with a focus on performance pieces instead of the common art installations that can be found throughout Revelstoke’s downtown. From Alex Wells’ hoop dancing performances to Stephen Hamm’s Theremin Man show to the Murmur Arts Collective, there will be shows for all ages performing throughout the night. There will also be some shows with age restrictions.

That doesn’t mean this year’s LUNA Arts will be entirely deprived of art installations that attendees can explore on their own time. 

“We’ll hopefully have some really big installations, and then some small installations where you can kind of peer into tiny worlds,” Hughes said.

A schedule of performances, stages and installation locations will be available on the ArtsRevelstoke.com website. Keep an eye out for the traveling Zine cart, created by Kira Makela.

LUNA Rail, Sunday, Sept. 22

Helping celebrate Revelstoke Railway Museum’s Railway Day, the partnership is in its second year after hosting musicians and artists during last year’s 30th anniversary of Railway Day. This year LUNA Rail will host a stage of family friendly performers throughout the day as guests enjoy Railway Day activities.