Summer approaches - and Sappyfest 13 "Early-Bird" discounted Weekend Passes are available now! We hope you will join us this summer to bring this still surprisingly annual festival of music and art and into a loving and well-supported teenagehood. Sappyfest 13, August 3-5, Sackville, NB. Photo: Colin Medley

Sappyfest is working with the always excellent Kazoo! Fest to send our hero (and Sackville resident) Beverly Glenn Copeland to Guelph this April - with his superstar super group Indigo Rising featuring many of Atlantic Canada's finest and shiniest musicians. A show truly not to be missed!

Sackville thinkers and listeners and talkers - take happy note! This Friday February 9th sees the return of The Baked Ham speakers series!

Our Sappyfest 13 - Call for Submissions is open! Music, performance, poetry, dance, art or installation - let us know what you've been up to. Sappyfest 13 takes place August 3-5, 2018, in beautiful Sackville, NB #Sappyfest #Sappy13

Congratulations to Lido Pimienta on being named The Globe and Mail's artist of the year! ❤️❤️❤️ (And thanks for to Tiana Feng for taking the photo referenced near the end of the article, which so beautifully captures the spirit of Lido's set at Sappyfest. See that photo here: http://bit.ly/2kWpAGJ)

Beverly Glenn Copeland: “My concert at SappyFest, a yearly festival in Sackville, New Brunswick, was one of the most important experiences in my life. Not because of what I performed, but because it afforded me an opportunity to connect in a profound way with the youthful generation now in their twenties and thirties. This connection was cemented by so many young people coming up to tell me over the next few days that they felt seen, heard and celebrated. It was a watershed that has defined my reason for writing and performing at this time.” We were moved to tears by Glenn's performance in the Vogue this past summer, and are so lucky to have him in our community! A true inspiration.

Our Annual General Meeting is happening next Wednesday!

ALRIGHT! Due to incredible demand we're making the Sappyfest Alligator Kid's T-shirt available as part of our T-shirt sale! $25 including shipping. XS Kid's Gildeon T is designed to fit a 6-8 year old, features a green print on marigold shirt. Artwork by Mollie Cronin. Order before Nov 19th at http://www.sappyfest.com/shop Make a Sappy Family!

The new Daniel Romano video was filmed in Sackville during Sappyfest 12 and is a perfect capture of those summer feelings!

Friends! Maybe you missed out on grabbing a Sappy Tshirt this summer (ooops!); maybe you spent all your money on Lido Pimienta merch and Fiver records (great choice!); maybe your size was sold out (dang!); maybe you couldn't make it to Sappy 12 but want to express your love and support (thank you!!!); maybe you want to give a gift of Sappy 12 to someone you love (so sweet!) - well, FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY, select Sappyfest 12 merch is available for mail-order! These T-shirts will be printed to order, so this sale is only open until NOVEMBER 19th, and all orders will ship in time for the holidays! Please visit http://www.sappyfest.com/shop/ to see the designs by artists Mollie Cronin, Patrick Allaby, Laura Watson, and Rachel M Thornton! With gratitude and love, Sappyfest

Beverly Glenn-Copeland is a beautiful musician, mentor, teacher, spirit, artist, and we love him dearly. This video is a wonderful chance to hear him speak and share his thoughts and his life and history.

We're heartbroken to hear about the passing of Charles Bradley. His performance at Sappyfest Six remains one of the greatest performances I've ever had the privilege to witness. There is so much life in this music, a life and a music we will cherish and remember. There a time in my life When it ran so cold Can't find a friend Anywhere at all So my brother said to me Charles gotta stand tall Because life is full of sorrow Heartaches and pain Please read Matt Charlton's lovely description of the show from the SappyForever book: I was one of the stage managers at SappyFest Six. This meant that I spent the weekend standing next to Steve Lambke looking concerned, which actually describes a lot of my time living in Sackville. The strongest memory I have of that year’s festival began during Bonjay’s set. If you didn’t catch them, they were amazing. The whole time though, I couldn’t shake the fact that the performer that had to follow them could never live up to this. There was no way he could do anything but fail. Most people hadn’t heard his name before the festival and this was probably the last time anyone would after he became the wet blanket on this thundering dancehall sound. Finally, Bonjay’s set finished and the next performer’s backing band calmly set up. I felt for them. They were professionals. They knew what they were in for. They were being sent to the gallows. And it was SappyFest’s fault. Who would put a soul band after Bonjay’s electro dance attack? The band started playing. Just music. For a long time. Where was the singer? He must have known what was coming and fled town. It was probably the smart move. When it seemed, even disregarding the poetic license I’m currently taking, to have been a notably long time that the band was vamping, I went to look for him. I met an equally concerned Paul Henderson on the way. We both looked in through the window of the green room. We could only see a silhouette of a man sitting. He was just staring down, head in hands, calmly, not moving at all. Looking back, it seems like an inspiring moment. It was the peaceful meditation of a fighter before he enters the ring, a man with his god. At the time though, I simply thought, “Oh shit.” Before I had a moment to voice concern, the silhouette stood and walked out the door. Without acknowledging the waves of stress emanating from us, he continued to the stage. Strongly. We walked behind him, drafting his sense of purpose. He got to the stage, walked on and…it’s hard to really describe what happened next. His calm poise instantly turned into an amazing hip-thrusting bird dance. Then he walked to the mic and everything changed forever. And I don’t say that lightly. Everything actually changed forever. Charles Bradley sang the opening line of Heartaches and Pain: “There’ve been times in my life…” …and it was so shockingly good that the crowd shrieked. It was out of joy, but the intensity of the moment made a thousand people sound like awkward teenagers all at once. They (we) shrieked like something truly horrible had happened (watch the Youtube clip to see what I mean). No one was ready. There was no way we could have been. Everyone was instantly in tears and it was impossible to escape this strange but unmistakable feeling that a thousand people were exactly where they wanted to be. That’s an odd and beautiful thing. It’s something that I didn’t even know existed. I stood next to Steve Lambke, much less concerned. Charles Bradley is the greatest performer I have ever seen. It was a flawless set that I could have watched for the rest of the night and simultaneously didn’t need another note from. We watched a piece of history unfold, this was SappyFest. Swamp Magic.