Okanagan musicians and dancers take over Vernon

Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Performing Arts are about take hold of the community as hundreds of performances take the stage around town.

The second annual Vernon Performing Arts Festival gets underway Saturday, Feb. 28, with artists of all ages taking in workshops and then showcasing their talents to adjudicators.

Both locals and those from throughout the Okanagan Valley, plus Kamloops and the Kootenays are in town for the festival, which continues until March 12.

Ballet gets underway Sunday, March 1, beginning at 1 p.m., at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre.

Modern dance is next beginning at 5:45 p.m. Sunday and continuing at 12 p.m. Monday.

Jazz ends the dance portion of the series beginning Monday at 6 p.m. and continuing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 9 a.m. (and includes street dance/hip hop, tap and musical theatre). Dance adjudicators are Stephanie Lilley and Leslie Kuny.

The Vernon Community Music Schools hosts the strings, guitar and orchestras March 7 to 9, adjudicated by Calvin Dyck.

Piano performances take part March 7 to March 9 at Peace Lutheran Church. Sylvia Shadick is the adjudicator.

The voice program is also underway at Peace Lutheran March 10 to 12, adjudicated by Melissa Braun. All of the shows are by-donation.

While there is no shortage of talent to be seen, the festival does need some more volunteers to pull it all off.

“We’ve got a lot of people in the dance community helping out but we still need a lot more,” said Becky Martselos, president of the festival which started just last year and is already a member of the Performing Arts BC.

Dance volunteers are needed March 1 to 5, sign up at https://www.volunteersignup.org/9QJXW.

Music volunteers are needed March 7 to 9, sign up at https://volunteersignup.org/D98TQ.