Is there anything better than enjoying free entertainment in the great outdoors at one of Orillia's parks?
Now in its second year, Orillia Summer Nights is a biweekly slate of events in each of Orillia’s neighbourhood parks, that runs through the summer. The events— a partnership between the City of Orillia and Orillia District Arts Council (ODAC) — feature a diverse lineup from music to theatre to improv and everything in between.
Orillia’s neighbourhood parks are gorgeous, and each makes for a unique setting for free entertainment for those in the area, and beyond. Last night’s offering of three musical acts in the north ward’s Hillcrest Park was no exception.
The evening was billed by ODAC as a 'Music Mashup' and the musicians were as diverse in style as advertised. The audience of more than 80 people were appreciative and attentive of all on offer, and the setting, with the occasional cloud rolling by, children enjoying the splash pad, and dog walkers strolling by, was positively idyllic.
Violinist Alex Andrews warmed the audience up and closed the evening down, with a variety of tunes ranging from folk to Celtic, to light classical.
Andrews, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, was happy to be on the slate of performers.
“I keep very busy with my teaching schedule, both privately and though Orillia Music Centre, but I really do love to play for people. And this is a bit of a change from playing with an orchestra,” she laughed.
"It’s a really lovely audience, and it’s nice that it’s a free event.”
Father/daughter duo Mike and Cassandra Dobranski played several cover tunes, with Mike on guitar and vocals and Cassandra doing her share of lead vocals. Cassandra’s slightly husky, lower toned voice was perfect for the covers she chose to sing, including Bob Dylan’s You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, and Billy Joel’s Vienna. An excellent duet of Johnny Cash’s Jackson rounded out their set.
Cassandra explained she doesn’t have a lot of time for gigging as she works full-time as a server and goes to school as well.
“I did my undergrad at Lakehead and am finishing up a year at Georgian College as a communications specialist. I will be working as a speech therapist. I do love singing though, and wish I had time to do more of it,” she said.
Local bluesman Ronnie Douglas was the third act on the bill. As always, his set was engaging and full of anecdotal stories about his life, music, and in this case, the solo CD, written during the pandemic, that he had recently put out.
Douglas played songs from the CD as well as a couple of covers, all to the audience’s obvious enjoyment.
Douglas explained that as he wrote the songs for the CD, a theme became apparent. ‘What’s the most important thing in the world?” he asked the audience. “Love, that’s right. And each of these songs is about love, whether it’s self love, romantic love, or love of humankind,” he said.
Douglas also talked about how important blues music is to him.
“For me, music all starts with the blues,” he said. Douglas’ new solo CD, Music Is Medicine is available through him and a couple of the songs can be seen on YouTube.
Audience members obviously enjoyed the evening and everything that was on offer.
There are two more Orillia Summer Nights events this year. Aug. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m., Heartbeat Hand Drumming, a drumming circle with Deb Brown, will take centre stage at High Street Park, at 482 High St.
And finally, Aug. 30, Lankinwood Parkette (20 Lankin Blvd.) will host outdoor art for kids: being creative in the woods, and roving music by Jakob Pearce.
