The Armstrong MetalFest is back for its 14th year of bringing hundreds of metalheads to the North Okanagan for two full days at Hassen Arena.
This year, 28 bands will take the stage, playing to an audience that has consistently grown year after year. The annual weekend-long festival is a place where metalheads who attend can not only find some of their favourite bands, they can also find community.
“There are many different genres of metal and there’s pretty much something for everybody,” said Heather Valstar, the health and safety coordinator of the festival.
“You can dress however you want — if you are a thrasher you can dress like a thrasher, if you are Viking metal you can wear your horns, you can wear your kilt if you want, you can wear a pretty dress if you feel like it.”
This year’s MetalFest is hotter and busier than in years past, so organizers have turned golf carts into mobile hydration stations that regularly circle the lot so everyone can stay hydrated. To beat the heat, the festival has expanded this year to include a Metal Market that’s been outfitted with big fans, a sunscreen station and a misting station.
“We are having one of the hottest weekends of the year so we have our event indoors, we’ve got big fans blowing air through, everyone is in the shade. So when you are watching shows you can get out of the sun,” said Jessie Valstar, general manager and one of the co-founders of the festival.
“We’re handing out water, we’ve got St. John Ambulance, they are our medical on-site, we have also got security all over the place and they are looking after people too.
“Metal is community, we are just taking care of each other.”
This is the 14th annual MetalFest and now boasts the largest mosh pit in Western Canada.