Thursday morning and hunger rouses me from my sleeping bag and I am drawn to the food court area where, surprisingly their is a large crowd interested in the same thing as I, breakfast. The Dragonfly Café out of Salmo B.C. catches my attention with their delicious offering of “Hot Grilled Breakfast Paninis”. This is the fourth Shambhala for Dragon Fly Café. I spoke with Clayton who describes working Shambhala as “a little crazy…lots of shifts, lots of work”, but business is good.

With breakfast out of the way I have an opportunity to take care of some house keeping concerns and gathering water is probably the most important. Shambhala organizers have provided clean filtered water for everyone and so I head for the water station which sits near the Rock Pit Stage and behind the ATM vestibule. At this early hour the line is short, but that will change as the day heats up. One person comments, “This is a vast improvement from how they did this before.”

“How do you mean?” I ask

“Well, are you completely soaked in water right now?” he asks with a laugh.

The improvement of services is of great importance to Shambhala organizers and the return guests notice and appreciate their efforts.

My chores out of the way it is time to plan my day. Thursday is actually not the official start of Shambhala, but those who come early are rewarded. Two stages, the Rock Pit and The Living Room warm-up the crowd at mid-day.

ROCK PIT

The Rock Pit opened with the tantalizing “Sweet Soul Burlesque” featuring burlesque dancers from all over North America. The crowd was appreciative of this very entertaining act which can be best described as clean sexy fun.

The crowd went wild with the first opening music act, Timothy Wisdom, a “powerhouse” from Vancouver’s intentional dance community. His energy and style had the crowd dancing and cheering immediately. No doubt they were inspired by his own energy, enthusiasm and solid base-heavy sound. It was an impressive show.

The Rock Pit was full of energy for the majority of the day with artists like Delhi2Dublin, Science of Defiance and Youth Attack keeping the crowd engaged, entertained, and most importantly dancing and cheering.

LIVING ROOM

The Living Room Stage was hosting Rus2Fari when I dropped by for a visit. The majority of the crowd could be found cooling in the river. There were more chairs parked right in the water and many were enjoying a break from the heat. In front of the stage, people were entranced and their dance was concerted and flowed with the music effortlessly. I was most impressed with the hula dancers whose practiced skill was most evident.

Into the evening and the night, clear sound and rhythmic beats drew many to both stages; however this was just a taste of Shambhala as many had mentioned through out the day that as much fun as people were having, the Festival was yet to begin. Tomorrow, would be the big day, when all six stages would fire up and the Festival would go into full swing. Guests were still coming through the “Mill Gate” well after sundown and while the crowd was much larger today, it had not yet reached it’s peak; much like the magic and energy of Shambhala.

Daniel