Celebrating National Volunteer Week and the importance of volunteers in the world of Arts + Culture the Banff Volunteer Centre hosted a Coffee House at historical St. George’s in the Pines church.  The event was a tremendous success – with over 12 performers volunteering their talents to entertain an amazing audience of people from our community!

Some of the talented musicians involved were Ray Brooks, Jean Collins and Natasha Ellwood, a jazzy performance from Peter Cristou with guests, and Banff high school student Samatha Bell, just to name a few.

Colin Funk delivered a hilarious and engaging collection of his poems from a stint in Dawson City, complete with the hat that got him through his northern stay. Doug Hamel performed a few poems, and Banff Volunteer Centre Executive Director and host for the evening delivered a moving monologue that got people thinking about volunteering with a new perspective.

The event got started with local music guru Garry Gonis, who revved up the crowd and got everyone singing along and wrapped up with a moving performance from Lori Reid, who spoke of how thrilled she was to finally have the opportunity to sing and play her guitar in St George’s In the Pines.

One surprise guest, 3 1/2 year old Ethan, approached the stage, guitar in hand ready to perform his rendition of ‘Old MacDonald’ – it was fantastic!! Ethan is the adorable son of volunteer Mark, who did the sound for the night and made a lot of connections with local musicians – thanks Mark for all your hard work!

Here’s a collection of photographs, taken by Rafal Andronowski, a Canmore Photographer who volunteered his skills for the evening – thank you Raf for capturing the evening.

Stayed tuned for more photos, stories and videos from this great event!

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Thanks again to all the volunteers and audience members involved in making the Coffee House a success!

Happy National Volunteer Week!