Achi news desk-
A trio play a cover of The Eagles’ hit Take it easy as a dozen people settled in for an intimate open mic night inside Derrick McCandless and Dawn Mills’ cozy van off highways 6 and 68 in Interlake Manitoba.
Strings of antique style light bulbs cast soft light over the mandolin, banjo and dobro guitars hanging on a wall behind the band. A range of pottery shaped in-house by Mills dot the shelves behind the auditorium.
Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop is full of tchotchkes – like the Elvis Presley Boulevard street sign and an old Orange Crush ad – that create the rustic living feel the couple dreamed of before buying and transforming the empty space over the last three years.
“I’ve met so many people in this community through them that I probably wouldn’t have … because of this hub,” said Mills’ cousin, Dana-Jo Burdett.
Mills and McCandless bring people together in their rural community in more ways than one — even though returning to Mills’ hometown wasn’t always in the cards.
The couple met in Winnipeg in 2011 while McCandless was playing a party for Mills’ cousin. They had plans to settle in the Okanagan in McCandless’ home state of BC until he suffered a health scare. After that, they decided to go back to the Prairies.
WATCH | McCandless and Mills channel a creative spirit into the Eriksdale community:
Dawn Mills and Derrick McCandless host the RogerKimLee Music Festival in the Manitoba Interlake community of Eriksdale. They also turned a long vacant space in town into a live music venue, an instrument repair and sales shop, and a pottery and framing service shop.
It was the height of the pandemic in the fall of 2020 when the pair moved to Eriksdale, about 130 km northwest of Winnipeg. They bought the old Big Al’s store, once a vacant local sharpening business.
“He was an icon in the community. He was a school teacher. He did a drama program here,” said Mills. “He brought a lot to the town.”
The building has become their own personal playground and living studio.
“It continues to evolve and we continue to change it and every room has to serve multiple functions,” Mills said. “It’s a meeting place.”
While they love the quiet life of their community, they are also a busy couple.
McCandless is a multi-instrumentalist with a previous career in the Armed Forces that took him all over. Now, he is a shop teacher in Ashern who sells and repairs instruments out of the music shop.
WATCH | McCandless playing an original song:
Derrick McCandless plays one of his original songs on acoustic guitar at Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop in March 2024.
Mills helped found Stoneware Gallery in 1978 — the longest running pottery group in Canada. She offers professional framing services and sells pottery creations that she throws in the studio.
They hold open mic nights and host a series of summer concerts on a stage next door that they built together themselves. They are also trying to establish a musicians’ memorial park in Eriksdale.
One of their larger labors of love is in honor of McCandless’ good friends, Roger Leonard Young, David Kim Russell and Tony “Leon” — or Lee — Oreniuk. All died within months of each other in 2020-2021.
“That was a heartbreaking year,” McCandless said.
They channeled their grief into something good for the community and started the RogerKimLee Music Festival.
Friends from Winnipeg and the Interlake helped them organize a weekend of “beautiful music, beautiful food, beautiful company” as a sort of fun, Mills said.
That weekend it rained. Festival goers piled up in soggy dog piles on the floor of the music store to dry off while Mills and McCandless cooked sausages and eggs for them to warm up.
“It was just a great weekend,” McCandless said. “At the end of that, that Sunday, we said that’s it, we had to do this.”
Mills says the homely community spirit on display during that opening year is what the couple have been trying to “encourage people to come together with” ever since.
The festival has grown to include a makers market, car show, children’s activities, workshops, camping, beer gardens, good food and live music.
This summer, Manitoba acts The Solutions, Sweet Alibi and The JD Edwards Band will be on the program August 16-18.
Burdett has been involved in the growth, helping with branding, social media and marketing. McCandless and Mills’ habit of bringing people together has also rubbed off on Burdett.
“There are more of my people out here than I thought, and I’m very grateful for that,” Burdett said.
Their efforts to give Eriksdale new artistic life caught the attention of their local MLA.
“The response from family and friend and community has been outstanding,” said Derek Johnston (Interlake-Gimli) during question period in the Manitoba Legislature in March.
“The RogerKimLee Music Festival believes that music is a powerful force for positive social change.”
Dolly Lindell, who has lived in Eriksdale for about three decades, said the couple adds something valuable that wasn’t there before.
“There are a lot of people that we didn’t even know had musical talent and aspirations and this has definitely helped bring it all out,” said Lindell from the audience as McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie wrapped up their statement of Take it easy.
McCandless, 61, said there was a time in his youth when he dreamed of becoming a country music star. Now his musical ambitions have changed. He has focused on using that part of himself to bring people together.
“I think I’ve got that gift that needs to be shared,” she said. “I don’t think I could live without sharing it.”
WATCH | Trio playing a song in the Eriksdale music shop:
Derrick McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie play a cover of The Eagles Take it Easy at McCandless and Dawn Mills music store in Eriksdale in March 2024.
Adblock Test (Why?)
Source link
Related
