About The Crisp

Now in its fourth year, The Crisp is a Southern Gulf Islands Community Resource Centre initiative. It is a festival with enjoyable happenings aimed at fostering community well-being through music, poetry, and transformational storytelling supplementing scheduled art activities, apple related activities and instructional workshops to complement the SGICRC’s mandate of food and farming security and promotion of environmental sustainability. For more information about the CRC, click on the logo.

This festival is inspired by the Southern Gulf Islands Community Resource Centre Society’s 2020 apple event “Let No Apple Be Wasted.” The initial festival was held at Port Browning, For the past three years, the Crisp has been held at the Pender Island Community Hall. Food is available from market vendors during the late morning/early afternoon on Saturday. Evening events will be held inside the hall.

Contact Information

For More Information Visit The Crisp Website www.thecrisp.ca or email crispfestival@gmail.com

New Crisp festival poster

Crisp Festival 2024 Schedule

Get ready for another highly anticipated Crisp Festival! Check out the schedule below and mark your calendars.

The Crisp Festival 2024 schedule

Discover Our Artists

Friday, October 4th, 7 pm – SOLD OUT

DAN MANGAN

We are very, very happy to get Dan here! #danmangan Dan Mangan is a two-time JUNO Award-winning and three-time Polaris Music Prize-nominated musician and songwriter. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife and two sons. For decades, Dan has brought signature wit, sonic innovation and lyrical insight to the indie/folk community, garnering him a fiercely dedicated and deeply involved worldwide audience. He has played Glastonbury & Jimmy Kimmel Live, sold out Massey Hall and scored acclaimed soundtracks for television (Netflix, AMC) and feature films.

Opening Acts

Graysom Lenner

Grayson Lenner

Grayson Lenner is a Victoria, BC-based singer-songwriter dedicated to crafting and sharing his original music. His distinctive sound seamlessly blends indie-folk, pop, and contemporary rock elements, drawing comparisons to esteemed artists like Ben Howard and Ryan Adams. With a lifelong passion for music, Grayson has honed a unique voice in songwriting that has garnered recognition, including a top 15 finish in the prestigious Canadian Songwriter Challenge. Currently working towards his debut solo studio album, Grayson’s music is characterized by thoughtful lyrics, memorable melodies, and a captivating live presence. Whether performing solo or with a full band, his soulful voice and skilled guitar work consistently leave a lasting impact on audiences, solidifying his position as a rising talent in the music scene.

Lauren Mann

Lauren Mann

In an industry where an “all or nothing” approach is often believed to be the only way to make it work, Lauren Mann has embraced the island mentality of slowing down and creating space for the different facets of life to coexist. After touring relentlessly through North America, winning the 2014 CBC Searchlight contest, placing second in the Peak Performance Project the same year, and charting on CBC Radio and Earshot, Lauren has seen the highs and lows that accompany the full-time musician and knows first-hand the toll it can take on the mind and body. Settling in the Southern Gulf Islands was the complete antidote to the hustle of the touring lifestyle, and becoming the Creative Director of a local arts organization gave her the opportunity to be on the other side of the industry.

Olivia Barrett

Summoning a wave of modern nostalgia, Olivia’s masterful fiddle playing flows seamlessly between the old and the new, breathing life into traditional tunes through the rhythms of contemporary folk. Elegant, playful, and precise, Olivia’s music is defined by her gift for crafting new melodies from the threads of the traditions of Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia.

Based in Victoria BC, Olivia’s playing has become known for its elegance and fluidity, and has brought her to stages across Canada, the US, and Europe, with recent performances at Celtic Connections and Milwaukee Irish Fest. Olivia’s debut solo album, Elsewhere (September 2024), gracefully blends her own enchanting melodies with the sounds of her favourite traditional tunes.

Saturday, October 5th, 7 pm 

Astrocolor group photo in a field

ASTROCOLOR

Astrocolor will be a very, very fun night!! #Astrocolor “Astrocolor hone the niche art of melding ’60s lounge music, Balearic beat and electronica in an alchemy that shouldn’t theoretically gel – yet they pull it off with prowess and panache. Genre fluidity defines their sonic ethos.” –Exclaim “Keening synths, jazz soundscapes and more reverb than is strictly decent. Beard-strokingly cool.” –UNCUT (UK) “Ethereal joy…Straddling relaxed jazz, funky electronics, vaguely psychedelic rock and spatial dub.” –Clash (UK) “Astrocolor are totally versed in the finer points of funky and jazzy house, the live ambient and Vienna school of electrobeats…straight out of Bristol in the 1990s with Hacienda Club love spilling off every pulse. The kind of moody sounds that contemporary jazz festivals love to book.” Vancouver Sun “Spacey, dubby, jazzy background/foreground music.” –The Sunday Times (UK) “Like the dusty record that crackles on an old turntable, Paradise feels both classic and glamorous. Between the blinking, Rat Pack piano melody and harmonic backing vocals, Astrocolor have crafted an idyllic illusion of poolside refuge.” –CBC Music

Opening Acts

Adonis Puentes and The Jazz Bohemians ft. Victoria guest Jordan Puentes

Adonis and his fraternal twin Alexis, now better known as Alex Cuba, were born in 1974 in Artemisa, Cuba. Their father, Valentin Puentes is a well-respected musician and teacher, and at six the twins were playing in a children’s guitar ensemble. At 14, Adonis was singing and writing original songs, music that has ripened and matured into the poetic, sensuous song-cycle, Sabor a Café (Tumba King Records/Pacific Music). Adonis Puentes has been nominated for a Juno Award and garnered a Grammy Award nomination for his lead vocalist work with the nine-piece, L.A.-based Mongorama. He has toured with Irakere veteran Maraca Orland Valle and sang at L.A.’s Greek Theater, Hollywood & Highland, and Lincoln Center, where he shared the stage with Latin music luminaries Larry Harlow and Ruben Blades.

Candace Aldridge

Studying with the most talented and diverse dancers of her genres, Suhaila Salimpour, Mira Betz, Rachel Brice, Mardi Love, Kami Liddle, Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman and many more, Candace has become one of the most renowned and experienced Belly Dance Teacher and Performer in Victoria BC. Candace believes that every woman should have the opportunity to feel like the Goddess she is and this philosophy shines through in both her Belly Dance and Bellyfit® classes. Her masterful understanding of how the female body moves and her intuitive understanding of what the female soul is craving through movement, make her a huge asset to the Victoria community and beyond. She is the creative director and choreographer to her to two performing groups Ruby Ruffles and TangleWood. To discover more about Candace’s company, Harmony BellyDance Co.

Big Thank You to Our 2024 Sponsors

The Crisp Festival 2024 sponsors list.

Planning your visit to Pender Island

Past Crisp Festivals