Just because the summer is over, doesn’t mean the music festival fun has to end.
CJSW and Sled Island’s annual Halloween party is once again right around the corner, this year taking over the #1 Royal Canadian Legion on Halloween night itself.
As far as CJSW’s marketing and development director Joni Doornenbal is concerned, the annual party has been going on for “time immemorial” — though it really kicked off in 2014. Seventeen local bands came together to perform covers of songs from Big Shiny Tunes 2, a MuchMusic compilation album featuring ’90s hits. Every Halloween comes with a new theme to inspire bands to choose their cover songs, and for party-goers to choose their costumes.
“This year’s Halloween party is going to be called ‘You Wouldn’t Download a Party,’” said Doornenbal.
How exactly bands will riff on the endlessly memeable 2004 “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” commercial remains a mystery until All Hallows’ Eve. But the mystery is all part of the fun.
“I’m always excited to see how they put their spin on [the theme],” said Sled Island’s festival director Hemen Tor-Agbidye. “It might be a metal band playing a hip hop song, or a punk band playing an R&B song … I always love seeing that, because you see bands go out of their comfort zones and play covers of these really popular songs, but in their own style, in their own theme.”
The party is a way for CJSW to conclude their annual funding drive. The drive raises approximately $230,000 annually, making it the most successful radio funding drive in Canada. As a non-profit, this drive is one of the primary ways CJSW maintains its presence on the air.
While ticket sales for the Halloween party do help raise money, the bulk of the funds come from the drive, which takes place this year from October 17 to 24.
“The Halloween party is just a nice little boost at the end of the funding drive,” said Doornenbal. “It isn’t essential to our fundraising operations, but it’s a great way to provide some kind of celebration for our community.”
This year’s Halloween party fills the three floors of the #1 Royal Canadian Legion with the favourites from previous years: the covers concert, a video dance party where party-goers can jam with a DJ along to a music video, a costume contest, and the brand-new edition — a drag show.
Hosting the drag show are local queens Joanie Sabbath and Divina Diefor, both familiar faces in Calgary’s drag scene. The drag show is replacing the usual rave that has been a staple of the Halloween party in the past.
“It was an opportunity presented to CJSW from [Sabbath and Diefor],” said Tor-Agbidye. “The rave cave has been great, but most of the attention through the night is generally on the main floor for the show and the video party upstairs. So, CJSW brought this up as a great opportunity to do something different.”
In previous years, the “rave cave” was something of a black sheep among the other events at the Halloween bash. Popular, sure, but not as popular as the musical performances or the video dance party. Doornenbal hopes the drag show will shake things up a bit.
“The drag queens are going to … add a little bit of dynamism and secret sauce to the event,” said Doornenbal.
Along with the drag show, Sabbath and Diefor are hosting the costume contest at midnight, so do your best looks because you may be in the running to win some wicked prizes.
And don’t forget, this is one Halloween party that you want to keep the pre-gaming to a minimum, because the drinks on-site are exclusive.
“Every year, Last Best produces a beer for our funding drive. A portion of sales always goes towards the drive, which is great. This year they’re going to produce the ‘Radiowave’ beer,” said Doornenbal. “It’s going to be super good. I’m so excited to try it.”
Last Best describes their new Radiowave brew as a hazy pilsner. A prime brew to cool off from the packed dance floor. And inevitably, it will be packed.
“[The party] always sells out really quickly,” said Doornenbal. “Make sure, as soon as the ticket announcement goes out, you get your tickets as soon as you can. Everyone always asks me for additional tickets the week before the party, and I always have to say, ‘No.’”
You heard them! Grab your tickets from sledisland.com. To support CJSW with a donation, head to cjsw.com/donate.
