Culinary Arts, Finance, and Starting a Music Festival with Daniel Desjarlais

RFU43 - Daniel Desjarlais
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[00:00:00] Welcome to ReFolkUs. [00:00:30] Today our guest is Daniel Desjarlais. Daniel is Deneza from West Moberly First Nations. His background is in culinary arts, finance, and business creation, and he is the owner and founder of Sakawinow Music Festival and the Chetywin Folk Festival.

[00:00:44] Rosalyn: He also currently works with his First Nations band, planning community events, meetings, and an annual cultural celebration, Westmo Days. Welcome, Daniel. How are you doing?

[00:00:53] Daniel: good. How are you?

[00:00:55] Rosalyn: I'm doing very well. I'm not going to say long time no see, cause I got [00:01:00] to see you very recently at the International Indigenous Music Summit.

[00:01:04] Rosalyn: How was the experience for you?

[00:01:09] Daniel: Oh, it was, it was awesome. I had such a good week. I got to meet a lot of amazing people and make a lot of connections and everything that is going to help. My business and my company, and I'm super excited for it. It was so amazing just in general to see all the indigenous talent and all aspects of music and [00:01:30] everything that they have there.

[00:01:31] Daniel: It's just, it was such a cool experience.

[00:01:34] Rosalyn: the Sakawinow Music Festival, that you started, when did you, when did you start that?

[00:01:39] Daniel: I came up with the idea for Sakawinow actually in 2020, with me and some, some two other friends and everything. We were out camping one day. And we ended up building like a big bonfire, like a big 15 foot bonfire. We were in like the mountains cause I live in northern BC.

[00:01:56] Daniel: so we had the mountains, we had the lake and everything, and then we had [00:02:00] the sunset going down, we were all sitting there talking about ideas and everything, and I just, this kind of came out of it because we were sitting there listening to music all day long and it was like all different kinds of music, like different genres and everything from like powwow music to, hip hop to rap to country to folk, like everything.

[00:02:20] Daniel: And it was. really cool because everyone was just having a really good time to, what we were doing, building the fire and everything. And then as we split the fire, [00:02:30] all the other campsites around us all came and joined us and we ended up having like a big party. And it was just like, this is really cool.

[00:02:37] Daniel: I really liked this. I want to do this more. And then from that, we kind of just like started looking at how I can build a festival, like cause I've never built events before, so that last year was my very first one in 2023, we had our very first event. Our actual festival it took me about three years to get it all set up and running and everything, but it was [00:03:00] very much worth it. everyone that came was, tons of fun,

[00:03:03] Rosalyn: Can you tell us about the name Sakawinow?

[00:03:08] Daniel: Yeah. So Sakawinow actually means Bushman in Cree which if you look at our logo, you'll see that we have the silhouette of like a big foot on it. And that is why when I was a kid, my great great grandfather, Maxi Desiree he gave me a native name my indigenous name, and it was Sakawinow. And he actually named me after [00:03:30] himself. and I've never really used it. I've never used it as a name for anything. But I've always wanted to, right. But everyone already knows me as Daniel. So it's hard to be like, no, call me Sagat New, right. So I always kind of like, I wanted to figure out a way to use it.

[00:03:44] Daniel: And I never really but then when I came up with the music festival. and we were trying to come up with the name. All I could hear was my grandfather yelling in my head, Sakawinow, right? And so I was just like, Sakawinow, I can use it. I [00:04:00] found something that I can use the name for.

[00:04:02] Daniel: That will help me change things. So I was, it was just something that I was just like, yes, like, this is it, this is something I found that I can finally use this name for. I think one that obviously my grandpa wants me to do, right. And two, I, I just, I love the name. Cause it's me, it's who I am.

[00:04:24] Rosalyn: That's a beautiful story and a beautiful, beautiful genesis of, of the name.

[00:04:27] Daniel: Thank you.

[00:04:29] Rosalyn: Well, it was [00:04:30] interesting reading in your bio, culinary arts, finance, business creation. And I think the only thing that was missing from that like perfect storm. building the, the perfect avatar of like a festival creator is that music side of it. And, and I feel like when I've had conversations with you, the thing that first comes across to me is that you're a music fan, like you're such a, you're such a fan of music.

[00:04:53] Rosalyn: Is that part of, of the creation of the festival, like as a person who hadn't, put on like a music event [00:05:00] before, was it just inspired by that love of music and listening?

[00:05:03] Daniel: yeah, so I've always been a really creative person in a lot of ways, but I've never had that talent for music. I've tried, I've tried learning guitar. I've tried learning even trombone. I tried learning bass for a bit. I just never had that talent. but I've always loved music. Like even if you go back and look at pictures of me in high school, every single one of them, I have headphones on.

[00:05:26] Daniel: I've always had music. I've always listened to music and I've always [00:05:30] loved it. I have quite a few family members that are actually in the music industry. and everything. So like Art Napoleon, Quanah Stiles, Niska, all of them are, they're my family and Art has a show and he does lots of music and stuff.

[00:05:45] Daniel: And then Quanah is getting really big and like the trans community right now, it's, then it's really awesome. And, from my family here on the reserve, I've had a couple cousins and family members that have had that talent for music and [00:06:00] everything, but they don't do much with it because there's not any platform in our area to do that.

[00:06:06] Daniel: Right. and I've been always pretty good at organizing things and keeping things. Running. so I just kind of like, well, since I can't play music, I might as well surround myself with it and see what I can do to help advance it. Because I've got a lot of cousins that have the talent, but they just don't know how to go about promoting themselves and getting booked at shows and all this [00:06:30] kind of stuff, right?

[00:06:31] Daniel: So that's why I was just kind of like, kay well, Instead of having to go down south to Vancouver or go all the way over to like Alberta or Saskatchewan to go and play shows, I'll just bring a show here you got some big, names at your first festival. Tell us about some of the performers that you had in, 2023.

[00:06:49] Daniel: so our headliners in 2023 were Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Deli to Dublin. And then we also had like DJ Shub, DJ Kookum, Dirty Radio, [00:07:00] Pilk Silk, Inuit Throat Singers. They were amazing. It was such a strong performance. It was so good.

[00:07:07] Rosalyn: Yeah, That's awesome. Like that's, such an amazing lineup. That's really impressive.

[00:07:11] Daniel: Yeah and next year I'm hoping to get Hallucination and Joey Styles for our headliners. And then I've made a ton of connections for some other performers that I would really love to bring in. so I, I had, I think 14 performers booked for the Chetywin Folk Festival this year.

[00:07:29] Daniel: Which [00:07:30] actually, didn't end up being able to launch the inaugural event this year, just because I wasn't able to get everything organized and planned in time. And I, I'm not going to host the half done event, so I just postponed it and we're going to have our inaugural event next year. but it kind of really worked out anyways, because now I ended up getting to meet a bunch of the performers that I had booked, right?

[00:07:50] Daniel: So like I had Saltwater Hank, I had Logan Stats, Kyle McCuney. lyricist Scrivens, right? Like I had all these people book that I've [00:08:00] seen their music, but never really seen them perform live. And now I've gotten to see them perform live as well. And I was like, awesome. I made the right choice. Right.

[00:08:35] Rosalyn: I also think it's so funny that you are one of many people that has, almost like apologized for not being a musician and Oh, I wanted to be, but I could never figure it out. Like it almost like an apology and it's like, well, no, we need people to not be musicians.

[00:08:51] Rosalyn: We need the folks that love it so much, like love it so much and are okay with not being on stage and that's how the stages get built. if [00:09:00] everyone's noodling on their banjos all day, we're never going to get anything done here. I also wanted to look at the part, of your story where you get into building businesses and getting into finance and that side of things, where did the interest come there or the opportunities that got you into, business.

[00:09:17] Daniel: I've always kind of had a very entrepreneurial mind. Because even when I was doing culinary arts, all I was thinking about is trying to figure out how to start a restaurant or start a food truck or do something. [00:09:30] Like I don't mind working for other people, but I just like being able to do what I want and express my creativity.

[00:09:37] Daniel: So I always found it was just a lot easier to work for myself. And I just ended up kind of getting into finances because I've always been good with numbers. Even back in high school, I was not the best student in the world. I didn't always go to classes, I would probably go to one class in my math throughout the year and then I would only go back in to write tests, but I would [00:10:00] consistently leave that class with one of the highest marks.

[00:10:03] Daniel: It's just because I understand numbers, right? I understand numbers and formulas. it just, what makes sense in my mind. so, and then I just kind of was like looking into financial things and like, I started kind of getting into investing. honestly, when, weed got legalized, because that was when I was finally at an age where I can start doing my own investing and I, it was something brand new that I knew it was going to take off and, and, and, I [00:10:30] made some right calls and it worked out and I ended up being able to kind of leverage that knowledge and ended up working for, world financial group.

[00:10:40] Daniel: for a little bit. I, I no longer do, I don't have my financial license or anything anymore cause I ended up focusing more on Sagawee and trying to build that and everything.

[00:10:50] Daniel: So I kind of let it lapse, but, and now I'm just not really interested in going back into it cause I love what I'm doing. So.

[00:10:59] Rosalyn: yeah, [00:11:00] well, I mean, that's such a great skill set to pull forward into Segoe, you know, and, and to your other projects, right? Having gone, at least dipped your toe in those waters. I'm sure that's like some cool Knowledge to carry forward, but not everybody has that, as a person who barely made it out of grade nine math, hearing you talk about that, it's like, That is a skill set that not everybody possesses.

[00:11:23] Rosalyn: what kind of advice do you have for folks that doesn't come naturally to them, how would you advise somebody who doesn't have maybe that kind [00:11:30] of skill set to get into taking care of

[00:11:32] Rosalyn: their own finances?

[00:11:33] Daniel: So the very first thing I would say is TFSA and RRSP's, TFSA's are your, friend, tax free savings account. fill that up? Put as much money into that because that will give you money. It's all tax free. put your money into them, fill that up first because every year you have an annual maximum that you're allowed to put into that.

[00:11:56] Daniel: And Your money into it and then RRSP's [00:12:00] are the secondary source that is taxed.

[00:12:03] Daniel: However, there are certain ones that have certain exceptions other than that, like my recommendation is trying to talk to a financial advisor because it also depends a lot on where you are financially, right? And where you're actually sitting, like, are you in debt? Do you have no debt?

[00:12:23] Daniel: you have money to be able to start saving and using a TFSA or is all your [00:12:30] money right now going to, Trying to end that debt,

[00:12:32] Rosalyn: I think that some maybe music specifically, but our income can come from many different sources. not a lot of folks, come right out of the gates making a lot of bank.

[00:12:46] Rosalyn: And sometimes I think there might be a hesitancy to kind of talk to people about financial literacy or talk to professionals about your finances, because folks might not be in the, at the point where they're. have a [00:13:00] whole whack of money to invest. But you were saying that, people, even if you're in debt, that it can be helpful to talk to somebody still just to kind of get a handle on that.

[00:13:10] Daniel: Yes. Very much

[00:13:11] Daniel: So a part of a job of a financial advisor is not only to help you make money and learn how to do that, but they are there to help you get out of debt. They will help you restructure your debt in a way that you aren't paying an arm and a leg for interest, right? And they'll help you figure that [00:13:30] out.

[00:13:30] Daniel: When I was financially advising, a lot of what I did was life insurance policies and everything like that. And those are also really good. As long as you can keep up to them like universal life insurance policies or permanent life insurance policies are really good to, especially honestly, getting them at a young age.

[00:13:50] Daniel: The younger you get them, the better, because those policies build up capital Over the years and then say you're putting a hundred dollars into [00:14:00] permanent life policy and you start doing that at 20 and then you get to like 37 or something and something happens, you can then use that life policy and take that money.

[00:14:12] Daniel: And do it as a loan and it'll go against your life policy. and then you don't have to pay that back. you will never have to pay that back because your life policy will pay it back when you die.

[00:14:24] Rosalyn: So then are there some lessons from working in that world that you've then taken [00:14:30] into starting your own business, starting your own festival? Kind of, have you taken any of that into the events world?

[00:14:37] Daniel: I've got savings accounts for my company and everything. I've got to build more of a team in order to like the benefit packages and policy and all that kind of stuff. because right now it is just me on my team. So I just do everything. But I'm covered under my own personal stuff and everything.

[00:14:56] Daniel: So I just didn't even, I didn't see the point of. Registering [00:15:00] and paying the premiums and all of that for a big package for the company, at least until I start getting a team. And then once I start getting a team, then I'll start doing that. And I'll start helping my team go into that direction as well.

[00:15:14] Daniel: Right. So, cause all, everything I do is all about promoting everyone else. I mean, that's my platform. I want to promote everyone else. I'll get noticed by other things, whatever, but I, my platform is here for everyone else,

[00:15:28] Rosalyn: Well, and, and [00:15:30] like, as a festival of events producer, like you're literally giving a platform to everybody. you're putting people on the actual stage. so you live in northern BC. just to help folks kind of picture where, where you are, what are some of the nearest towns or cities to where you are?

[00:15:49] Daniel: It kind of depends on your definition of a big city. Because I live in a small town called Shetland. It's probably got about 3, 000 people. I mean, it takes me an hour to walk from one end of [00:16:00] town to the other. And back like it's not a big, big town. So for me, Fort St. John is, that's where our airport is.

[00:16:09] Daniel: That's probably the closest big city. But if you're talking like big, big city, I would probably either be Grand Prairie or Prince George.

[00:16:18] Rosalyn: Okay.

[00:16:19] Daniel: probably Prince George if you want to stay in BC because Crabberry's in Alberta. But we are like right beside the Alberta border. We're like northeast.

[00:16:26] Daniel: Kind of more like in the middle of, of BC. But [00:16:30] yeah, it's like Fort St. John, there's quite a few people that would know who that is. And if, if not,

[00:16:35] Daniel: then Prince George

[00:16:36] Daniel: or Grand Prairie,

[00:16:37] Rosalyn: So then, in terms of the music scene up there, are there enough artists and people creating music that you're able to program like artists and local music? Where, where are you kind of looking when you're, when you're programming your stages?

[00:16:50] Daniel: So at the Chetywin Folk Festival, that is a lot more like local performers and stuff. Kyle McEarney, for example, or Teagan Gaves, or even Larissa Scrivens. They're [00:17:00] all from my area. Saltwater Hank even is just the way, not too far from us as well. I've tried to really focus on doing local talent as well as, like, larger talent too, because Especially with Sakawinow, right?

[00:17:14] Daniel: Because I bring in large performers that attract a lot of people and then I want to give that platform to smaller talent to potentially become that person as well, So with, that in mind, like, my festival has, Three segments, right? And how it [00:17:30] works. So like from 12 to five, we've got like our cultural music and stuff.

[00:17:34] Daniel: So we like last year we had some powwow drummers. We had a couple powwow groups. We had some Latin American dancers from a ballet school down in Kamloops. We had some Punjabi artists come out and do some of their traditional music and everything too. We had Chubby Cree there last year, it was pretty awesome.

[00:17:52] Daniel: And then from five to seven, we have our 15 minutes of fame segments. So this, this is like the, for the smaller [00:18:00] local talent that wants to make a name for themselves, and it gives them a chance to come up, they perform on our main stage, they get a 15 minute show. And then based on the performance, the audience reaction and everything, it gets them potential of getting booked for a full slot the next year.

[00:18:18] Daniel: It's giving them an opportunity to be able to promote that, and try and grow. and then from 7 till about 2 a. m. We've got like our more modern day style and that's [00:18:30] the electronic music and stuff, but it's still like all indigenous artists right? So last year like I said we had Slotty Nose Rez Kids, DJ Shug, DJ Kookum, Quanah Styles Garrett T.

[00:18:41] Daniel: Willey and a bunch of other ones that I can't remember right now, but like a lot of just really good indigenous music and stuff. And it was awesome. And yeah, I was, it's, a big part of what I'm doing as well is promoting the newer talent and up and coming talent too, and trying to give them a platform [00:19:00] to get noticed because that's one of the big things around here is, yeah, there's lots of festivals around here, but they're all country and folk and there's nothing wrong with that, but it just doesn't give a platform for any of these other artists to do anything with, right.

[00:19:14] Daniel: And I want to do that.

[00:19:16] Daniel: And so funny though, because when you're talking about the artists that you have playing there in my mind, I'm like, Oh, it's all folk music.

[00:19:23] Rosalyn: So,

[00:19:25] Daniel: No, I don't

[00:19:27] Daniel: think so.

[00:19:28] Rosalyn: Really

[00:19:28] Rosalyn: depends

[00:19:29] Daniel: I mean,

[00:19:29] Rosalyn: [00:19:30] definition.

[00:19:30] Daniel: Yeah. at this point, though, like folk is kind of become such a general term for music. It's, hard to say, right? Like, even with Chetywin Folk Festival, it's more or less just called it the Folk Festival because it's a general term for music, I'm not restricting it to just country and folk.

[00:19:47] Daniel: I'm going to bring in other performers and acts and stuff too. But It's just, I feel like it catches a lot more attention around here as well, because Sakawinow, I promoted as a multicultural electronic festival, so, and [00:20:00] unfortunately, a lot of electronic festivals are synonymous with drugs and all that kind of stuff.

[00:20:06] Daniel: And mine is not so much, like you can only control so much, but I really do try and stop it because it is. family friendly event, like we have KidZone, it's overnight camping, and all this stuff, and we've got a really professional security company that helps with all of that stuff and everything, right?

[00:20:23] Daniel: So it's, and then even in the case that that current, that, that, happens and stuff, and there [00:20:30] is an emergency, we also have a very professional medical team. That actually does festivals all over Canada and everything. So I was really happy that they were really wanting to work with me. Odyssey Medical, they do some amazing work all over Canada for festivals.

[00:20:45] Rosalyn: we honestly have this chat every single, podcast episode of like people's, perception of folk and, can be such a broad category, but I feel like just for the insurance purposes alone, going with folk as a brand and, probably helpful.

[00:20:59] Rosalyn: [00:21:00] Because, there is that perception that if you call something a folk festival, you can probably bring your kids to it. there's probably more of a family aspect. But you can also program snotty nosed res kids at it and, had said at like the Folk Music Ontario and Folk Alliance very very proudly co-presented a Official showcase at the International Indigenous Music Summit.

[00:21:25] Rosalyn: And even though I can speak into this mic half good [00:21:30] maybe to you right now. I just, I feel like I'm a terrible public speaker and I tried to say something in the mic and I I like half said it and then kind of got off the stage and said, did I even say what I meant to say?

[00:21:41] Rosalyn: And I don't think I did. But I was, what I was trying to say is that, the, indigenous music when you're talking about powwow music, like that is the folk music of Canada. That's Canada's folk music. That's the music of the indigenous peoples rather than the cultural music of Canada. So.

[00:21:56] Rosalyn: I just think it's so, when we're talking about folk music [00:22:00] to like, remember that that is like, the music that you were talking about programming, it's like, that is, that is Canada's folk music. It's the cultural music of the first peoples of Canada,

[00:22:10] Daniel: I guess when I say, when I say folk talking about Sakawinow, it's, I'm, talking like banjo stuff and like, like, like old school folky music kind of stuff. Cause there's a lot of that in my area. I guess it's a lot. Right. And that's why, like when I started this and I put that out there [00:22:30] and I made that clear because I get a lot of submissions for that kind of music.

[00:22:35] Daniel: And I'm like, There's so many platforms around here for you to do that and promote yourself. So, unfortunately I'm not looking for that, it's not like I don't want to help them as well, but it's just. There's a lot of opportunity.

[00:22:49] Rosalyn: yeah, you're creating something really special that highlights your community and, and uplifts, I mean, you've got like. In my opinion, [00:23:00] the best job in the entire world, which is like letting people know what kind of music you like, giving people an insight into like, this is music that I think is good.

[00:23:08] Rosalyn: I want to show it to you, what a cool opportunity to get

[00:23:12] Rosalyn: To do that, Wow.

[00:23:13] Daniel: Yeah, honestly, I sometimes, so there's definitely days, like even just sitting in Toronto this week. I was sitting there one day and I just kind of thought about where I'm at right now. And like, the fact that I was sitting in Toronto at that point, right. And I'm like, I never in a million years would have [00:23:30] thought that I'm here now, that this is where one festival has brought me to, right.

[00:23:35] Daniel: I was. Hoping for stuff like this to happen and like eventually make these connections, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly, right? Like I, all I did was throw one festival. And now I've been making all of these connections. I've got to meet a guy from the Grammys. I got to meet all these really just like pretty famous performers and everything.

[00:23:55] Daniel: And like, now I've got a lot of their personal phone numbers and like, I've got that relationship [00:24:00] with them and everything, and I'm like, I never thought I would be at this part. Not right now. Anyways, not, not, not this quickly. I thought it was going to take a couple of years, but it blew my mind.

[00:24:12] Daniel: Even just going to like the International Indigenous Music Summit, because there was the Australians that I was hanging out with, they even knew about the festival and I was like, what? I'm like, but yeah. They're like, yeah, we saw it over in Australia. I was like, okay.

[00:24:28] Daniel: That's crazy. [00:24:30] Right?

[00:24:31] Rosalyn: Wow.

[00:24:31] Daniel: I only ever promoted it in BC Alberta. I mean, just the fact that it got noticed all the way in Toronto and stuff like that was insane to me, right? But I'm so thankful for it. Like sometimes I just, I really can't believe where I'm at right now. And it's just like, it's really awesome.

[00:24:48] Daniel: And I'm excited to keep going.

[00:24:50] Rosalyn: Amazing. I also want to talk to you about food. Reading that, that you have, culinary training in the culinary [00:25:00] arts. I also just like, I feel like whenever I am at a music event, I somehow always find the other people who like to eat So I'm very glad that. we've been able to share a meal together. what kind of role does, food play in events in your community.

[00:25:14] Daniel: So when I did my culinary arts, I did the culinary arts and management diploma. So I also did business law. I did Accounting and I didn't like management courses as well as doing culinary. But even just like just working in a kitchen [00:25:30] alone. So like I used to work at predator Ridge golf resort Which is a multi million dollar golf resort, it's home of like hockey Canada during the summer and everything and like that was probably one of my favorite jobs.

[00:25:42] Daniel: I really liked working there. It was a lot of fun. I got to learn a ton. I've learned how to make pretty much everything from scratch because that's all that we did at that restaurant. All from scratch, like everything is made in house and everything.

[00:25:58] Daniel: And along with doing all the [00:26:00] prep work, you're also having to run the line and you're having to organize and then all this kind of stuff, right? So I think it was just more like the fast pace of everything that I just really liked because I got ADHD for some things.

[00:26:13] Daniel: And I get, sometimes it just goes and like, it's hard to. But when I get into situations like that, where it's very fast paced, it really helps me a lot because I'm just going right. I think it like, learn how to do like menu planning and all that kind of stuff. And a lot of that [00:26:30] does go back into like keeping the performers happy, keeping your staff happy and making sure that you're bringing in good food as well.

[00:26:37] Daniel: And everything like I brought in a bunch of fresh fruit last year from BC. Plus I got them catering from a local caterer in my community that does a lot of like indigenous food and stuff like that and uses stuff from the land. Like, I just, I love food. I love being able to learn about it.

[00:26:53] Daniel: And everything and I still do even with my community, because I do all like their community events and [00:27:00] everything, a part of that is like booking caterers and then working with them on building menus and everything. So I do a lot within that kind of connects to events because it's. Even with food trucks and stuff, right? And like bringing out food trucks, like I normally will go and try these food trucks before I go and book them just to make sure that I won like the food that they're bringing.

[00:27:23] Rosalyn: quality control sounds great. Yeah, I don't know, it's, the, the trifecta of, uh, event I want to be at, music, food, and [00:27:30] dance, it's

[00:27:30] Rosalyn: three of them together,

[00:27:31] Rosalyn: you can't

[00:27:32] Rosalyn: go wrong.

[00:27:32] Daniel: it's kind of like planning a buffet if you really think about it, right? Like, cause you gotta, Time everything so that it's ready and hot for a very specific time and then have enough ready for the whole entire time to be able to be ready right and then you put that into events and it's like well you've got to make sure that all these performances are on time and then they're only running for the certain amount of time that they're doing and it's just a lot of it connects in a lot of [00:28:00] ways and it's Like you can use knowledge from one industry and put it into another one, especially when it comes to arts and creativity stuff.

[00:28:07] Daniel: And I consider culinary arts and art form, I mean, it's culinary arts, I guess, but

[00:28:13] Daniel: It's just the matter of taking a different style of art form and implementing it into music and organizing events.

[00:28:21] Rosalyn: how can folks find out more about the festivals? do you guys have

[00:28:27] Rosalyn: websites? Are you on social media?

[00:28:29] Daniel: yeah, I've got, [00:28:30] Tik TOK, I got Instagram, I got LinkedIn, I got Facebook, I got all the social media stuff they're not super active counts because again, it is just me. And I can only do so much. I am in the process of trying to find a social media person to help me do all of that. Cause I do really like the promotion side and I, I love it.

[00:28:51] Daniel: But I just, I've got so much other things that I'm trying to do as well. But yeah, so I, and then I do also have our website as well which we do have merch on there if [00:29:00] anyone is interested in merch so you can go take a look at that. there's a written story on how the event came about like what I was telling a little bit earlier in the, in the, our conversation.

[00:29:10] Daniel: And then there's also a big blurb on me and like who I am and everything, just so people know who they're investing in, and like what the company kind of stands for. Right.

[00:29:20] Rosalyn: so people who are excited about what you do they can obviously follow you on all the things they can buy merch, which will support the events and the company. And [00:29:30] then what about like volunteering?

[00:29:31] Rosalyn: Can people volunteer to help out

[00:29:34] Rosalyn: like year round or at the events?

[00:29:35] Daniel: Yeah. So I have a volunteer form that I typically will send out a couple months in advance of an event. And then All of my contact information is also all over my website and all over the social media and everything. So it also can be as simple as sending me an email and just asking right, but I do have like a volunteer sign up.

[00:29:56] Daniel: I also have a year round musician and [00:30:00] performers sign up form as well. That just sits there on my thing because, I've got multiple events that I do. So even just submitting your name into that, it gets your name put into my performers list. And then that, is what I go through to book performers, so any performers are also wanting to even just register the link is up there and you're more than welcome to do it. And I'll eventually get in touch with you about a performance at some point. Normally

[00:30:27] Rosalyn: Daniel, thank you so much for taking the [00:30:30] time out of your day to chat with us. It's been, It's

[00:30:31] Rosalyn: been such a pleasure.

[00:30:32] Daniel: It's been a really nice talking to you too. Thank you for inviting me on.

[00:30:35] Rosalyn: Yeah. And hopefully we'll see you, again down the road.

[00:30:38] Daniel: I'm sure we will.

Credits
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[00:30:45] Rosalyn: That's all for this episode, friends. The ReFolkUs Podcast is brought to you by Folk Music Ontario. Find out more by heading to folk musicontario.org/refolkus. That's R-E-F-O-L-K-U-S. The podcast is [00:31:00] produced by Kayla Nezon and Rosalyn Dennett and mixed by Jordan Moore at The Pod Cabin. The opening theme is by King Cardiac, and the artwork is by Jaymie Karn.