"Playing it forward" - Sunset Country Music Festival prepares for third edition this summer

by Scott Roos

Aiden Edwards photo by Scott Roos/Scotty the Rooster Photography

Josh Stumpf photo by Tracy Creighton/Copperblue Photography and Design

Mercy Glover photo provided by the artist

Josh Stumpf (L), Aiden Edwards (M) and Mercy Glover are three of the artists that will be performing at Sunset Country Music Festival

On Friday, August 9th, the annual Sunset Country Music Festival will once again be taking place in MacDowall, Saskatchewan. This year’s lineup will feature Josh Stumpf and the Boys Downtown, Mercy Glover, Aiden Edwards & East Side of Second, Morgan Desjardins and Brett Down. Proceeds going towards the purchasing of instruments and lesson booklets for Prince Albert’s Ranch Ehrlo houses. All in all, it should be an evening of top quality entertainment supporting a great cause. 

“We wanted to play and to perform for people. This is a way to give back and say, ‘hey I'm not doing this because I want to get paid. I want to help other people while we're doing this.’ So every year we're trying to look for what the community needs the most this year and figure out what the pressing issue is this year.”  festival co-organizer Josh Stumpf told NSMZ. 

“With Ranch Ehrlo we wanted to help them get kids into music rather than you know risky behavior I guess you could call it…  I figured the more people you can get into music at a younger age the more you can keep them away from all the negative stuff. It gives them an outlet (for artistic expression).”

With the festival being in its third year of operation, Stumpf alongside fellow performer/organizer Mercy Glover, are excited with the evolution of the production of the festival as a whole. Last year featured the addition of a beer garden for the first time with the sound and lighting being continuously tweaked as well. Additionally, the festival this year has also partnered with Moose Fest for a special deal on combining ticket prices. You can buy Sunset Music Festival tickets for $20 or you can buy Moose Fest tickets for $30 or for $40 bucks you can attend both festivals. The festivals are back to back with Sunset being on the Friday and Moose Fest being on the Saturday. Two great, grass roots, independently run festivals for one great low low price. 

You can purchase tickets to Sunset Country Music Festival HERE. It’s going to be a great night of awesome emerging Saskatchewan country music artists. Definitely not to be missed.