NEW EVENTS join the Riverboat Days lineup this year, with a variety of things to see and do.
The Skeena Valley Cruizers host their annual car show and invite young car lovers to enter the Valve Cover Race, a chance to build a racer made from a rocker cover on July 30. See the details at skeenavalleycruizers.com.
A Chainsaw Carving contest comes to the Skeena Mall parking lot, pitting carvers against each other on the first weekend with final judging taking place July 31.
The Eby Street Fish Hatchery holds an open house for viewing and visitors can take a tour of the facility Aug. 1.
Games Around the World is being put on by Skeena Diversity Society to showcase folk games from all continents that are played now or were in the past Aug.3.
The Skeena Mall Fun Dog Show takes over the mall parking lot with entertaining classes and ribbons and prizes Aug. 5. On the last day, Aug. 7, take a trip out to the Kitselas Canyon National Historic Site to see the raising of the “dog salmon” crest totem pole in front of one of the longhouses at 1 p.m.
George Little Park will be rocking on the first weekend of Riverboat Days with a variety of local bands and a headlining act that’s a blast from the past.
Concerts in the Park features lots of local talent starting at 12:15 p.m. July 30 with the Terrace Bhangra Club, a local Punjabi dance club performing Bhangra music, followed by Boss Blues Band, Lil’ Kiki, Jimi and the wolf, a rockin’ blues trio with a big sound. Then After Hours hits the stage with its four members playing some rock ‘n’ roll.
Playback, a crowd favourite, brings the sounds of the ‘70s and ‘80s along with its high energy and Sound Collision adds a few originals songs to its rock mix.
New local band King Crow and the ladies from hell are an eight-piece dance band playing a mix of many styles. Triple Bypass, “Prince Rupert’s hardest working band” delivers solid non-stop rock and Coldwater brings a lot of fun to the stage.
Following up on the classic music of the last two years’ headliners, Lee Aaron and Headpins, Honeymoon Suite is set to take the stage to close out the day’s music.
The band was formed in 1981 by lead singer Johnnie Dee in Toronto with original drummer Mike Lengyell, and players on bass, keyboards and guitar were added.
In 1982, Dee met Derry Grehan through manager Steve Prendergast. Together, Dee and Grehan reformed the band with Ray Coburn on keys and Dave Betts on drums.
They entered and won the Homegrown Contest put on by a Toronto radio station with a song produced for them. That song, “New Girl Now” was snapped up by the public and WEA Canada signed the band. The band toured for a couple of years, and, with the success of several singles from the album, which went platinum, they began to headline gigs across the country.
Their second album “The Big Prize” also went platinum in Canada and sold steadily in the U.S. In 1986, Honeymoon Suite won a Juno award for Group of the Year and a gold award for Best Live Act at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo.
The third album “Racing After Midnight” featured a more hard edged sound and led to a European tour and a headlining tour of Canada. “The Singles” was released in 1989. In 1991, “Monsters Under the Bed” came out after Betts and Lalonde left and Coburn, Dee and Grehan started writing together again. Four more albums came out and Betts and Lalonde returned in 2007, bringing the band back to its original lineup. An anthology album followed and the band’s most recent album is 2008’s “Clifton Hill.”
With a list of top 10 hits – New Girl Now, Wave Babies, Bad Attitude, Feel it Again, What Does it Take, Love Changes Everything, Lookin’ Out for Number One, Say You Don’t Know Me – the band is still rocking on. Honeymoon Suite is scheduled to play at 7 p.m. July 30 at George Little Park.