I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say I am desperate for a fun time, and with more vaccines being administered and life starting to look like it’s headed in the right direction, those fun times might actually be getting closer. May Long Weekend 2020 was lost, but it’s 2021, I got my hat on backward and it’s time to party.

Well, by “partying” I mean bringing my laptop to the balcony and tuning into a digital version of The May Long Festival May 21-24. Filmed from the Anvil Centre Theatre in New Westminister the event will feature performances from an exciting roster of some wonderful talented local creators.

Janice Bannister will be performing her one-woman show “The Weirdest Year of My Life” and after the collective weirdness of 2020, I really could use a laugh! I imagine if you can be crowned BC’s Funniest Female twice you are exactly the person I need to watch. 

Tickets are $10 a show or $30 for all four. In addition to Bannister’s performance will include “Blak/Canadian Women in Music & Arts’ from vocalist Krystle Dos Santos and Friends, where they will celebrate notable Black Canadian women in music. Devon More will perform a selection from her one-woman cabaret in “More Or Less” and Jaylene Tyme and Allen Morgan will perform their conversational piece “Reflections”.

It’s sure to be a good time and I am both interested in the shows but also the way it’s filmed. Live events obviously suffered over the course of the pandemic and with everything having no choice but to get digital, I’m always interested to see the ways people work with technology to make the event exciting. Obviously, I’m looking forward to May Long Weekend 2022 because maybe then we’ll be back to in-person events, but for 2021 I will definitely take this.