It was already a well-established tradition when I arrived at the Festival for the first time in a year which I'm pretty sure was 1994. During the weeks when the Festival is running, the Monday evenings see the Festival chartering the Island Queen V sightseeing cruise vessel for a musical cruise around the waterways of Parry Sound.
Over the years, these informal cruise concerts have ranged from classical to Celtic, from a cappella to jazz, from folk to blues to G&S to big band to... well, you get the idea. On a typical cruise, the musicians will play either two or three sets, depending on the length of the trip. The vessel's canteen on the lowest deck is open during the trip with hot dogs, pizza, packaged snacks, coffee, tea and more, and a bar on the middle deck serves wine, beer, and pre-mixed cocktails.
The performing space is at the front end of the largest indoor space on the lowest deck. The second deck has more indoor space, but also an outdoor seating area at the stern. The top deck is all outdoors. Both the second and third decks have outdoor viewing areas at the front end, overlooking the bow. Both of the upper decks also have excellent speaker systems so that everyone can hear the performances.
The routes have varied a bit over the years, but now the normal voyage takes you on a two-hour tour of the waterways and island channels along the north side of Parry Sound. . The ship returns to the dock in town at 8:00 pm on the regular Festival cruises.
On Canada Day, there's a 7:00 pm "pre-Festival cruise" which lasts for three hours and goes right out to the edge of the outer islands where
larger forested islands give way to the hundreds of islets and rock
outcroppings that justify the name, "Thirty Thousand Islands." A highlight of the Canada
Day cruise is the spectacular sunset you will likely see around this area
of the trip. With the longer voyage comes more music, usually three sets. On Canada Day, the return to town is timed for the Island Queen V to lead the traditional parade of boats dressed in festive lights, before coming to a halt out in the harbour at a prime location to view a spectacular fireworks show. The vessel then returns to the dock at about 10:30pm. I was really sorry to miss the Canada Day event this year.
On this trip, we were treated to blues from a group called Jackson Delta. As the name of the band suggests, they gave us a down-south, down-home brand of blues, with a country-folk vibe, all set to the distinct sounds of harmonica and washboard with a great lively beat. Just the thing for a sunny summer evening on the water!
There's one more cruise left in this year's shortened season, by the way -- next Sunday (not Monday) as Sunday, August 1 is the final day of the Festival. It's a jazz cruise with the Dave Young Quartet and the Island Queen V sails from the Town Dock at 6:00 pm sharp. See you there?
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