Home to musical talents Rita MacNeil and Gordie Sampson, the community of Big Pond kicked off its annual music festival in Cape Breton on Sunday.
It’s the 53rd year for the community’s annual summertime event.
"It's one of the premiere concerts on the island.In its day, there was tremendous involvement in the community. It was a community-wide thing,” says concert organizer Fred White.
It’s an event that brings both its community, visitors and even people who’ve moved away from home together each year.
"Although I'm an outsider, people in Big Pond make you feel like you're from here even though I'm an American. I live in Windsor, Ontario, right now but I married into the MacInnis clan here in Big Pond, so that's another reason I come back every summer,” says musician Jim MacNeil.
Festival goers were especially excited to take in a performance from Big Pond native, country artist Gordie Sampson.
Sampson recently co-wrote a number one hit on the U.S. country charts with Florida Georgia Line and the Backstreet Boys.
Cape Breton artist Rita MacNeil’s legendary career continues to be celebrated in the community she put on the map as well.
"The community's very proud, but we just treat them like normal. You're not treating them like a star. When they do come home, nobody is making a big fuss over them. So they could come here, and sort of be themselves,” says White.
Jim MacNeil says the music festival has become a tradition for families to pass down.
"My grandfather played the fiddle, my father played the fiddle. I have a brother bagpiper, another brother who is a piano player. I play the fiddle. My two daughters are about to play here at the concert, they play piano. So there's a lot of it within our family, and other families,” he says.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald.
