Watch above: No boys allowed at Saskatoon’s first Girls Rock Camp
SASKATOON- A unique day camp is underway in Saskatoon, the first of it’s kind in the province, where 25 girls are learning how to rock out and no boys are allowed.
“Usually when you go to camp you see boys but for once you just see girls everywhere,” said 10-year old Keylianne Smith.
Eight-year old Heidi Sticklanovitch agreed with a giggle, “it’s fun because every girl gets to play around without having to listen to boys.”
The campers, ages seven through 13, have been working their way to becoming musical superstars throughout the week and loving every second of it.
“It’s awesome, everybody had a great week, everybody meet new friends, everybody learned how to play drums, keys, bass, guitar, learn how to sing,” said Sticklanovitch.
“I like to play the drums because they’re the leader of the band so you just sit down and you keep the beat for your entire band,” added Smith.
“I’ve been playing guitar lately with my instructors and I’ve been meeting lots of new friends and I love this camp, I think I’m going to come back next year,” said 10-year old Callie Sookerokoff, who’s going into Grade 5 this year.
Above and beyond the opportunity to learn an instrument, compose and perform a song, these girls, the majority from Saskatoon are learning to march to the beat of their own drum.
“We’re doing things about confidence, assertiveness, lots of crafts, so there are lots of other activities happening this week that are not directly related to rock and roll,” explained Mairin Loewen, co-organizer of the Girls Rock Camp and a Saskatoon city councillor.
The camp instructors are all volunteers and female musical mentors including Loewen, who plays the harp, piano, trombone and bass.
“I think the reason that camps like this exist is because if you were to go out and watch live music in a local bar at any given time you’re definitely going to see more male musicians on stage then women, so we want to make sure that girls know they can be rock musicians if they want to and that they get that early start in training and experience and have the experience of performing live for their fans which is a great feeling,” said Loewen.
If all goes well this year, the plan is to offer the camp again next summer so more music and memories can be made.
“Registration filled up for this camp in a matter of hours so we know there are a lot of people out there in Saskatoon that want their girls to participate in this camp,” added Loewen.
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