Play Ball! Funtastic action underway

“The guys from Chetwyn that rolled in last night is probably one of the furthest teams I can think of off the top of my head,” Austin told Vernon Matters.

The weather forecast calls for sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 20s over the long weekend.

“The weather’s going to be perfect, it’s going to be warm so stay hydrated, drink water,” Austin said. “Hopefully people can enjoy the Okanagan and what Vernon’s got to offer with the beaches and lakes and everything else.”

The slo-pitch tournament is being held entirely at the DND diamonds this year, with the last slate of games starting at 2:30 p.m. Monday, July 3.

A slo-pitch diamond facing the Funtastic Music Festival area at DND park (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

As of 10 a.m. Friday, volunteers were putting the final touches on the music festival ground, setting up a dunk tank, putting up the fencing, testing the sound system and about to hang the banners at the stage.

Volunteers were completing the set up of the music festival area of Funtastic Friday morning (video by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

A dunk tank will be set up at the Funtastic Music Festival (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

The sound system for the Funtastic music festival was being tested Friday morning (photo by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

Austin said they fully expect to be ready for the first concert to start when Psychic Driving School hits the stage at 5:45 p.m. Friday.

The full lineup can be seen here

There are very few changes to the music festival operations this year, with the exception being regulations allowing families with kids full access to the beer garden.

“Every year, there’s always been a family area in the beverage garden. So what we’ve done this year is just open the whole garden to them so they can access the food vendors, they can access the dunk tank, some of the vendors up above as well too,” Austin explained.

“So really the only difference is they actually have access to those this year because there’s been a family area in this beer garden for years, so we’ve taken a lot of backlash from people online and I guess people don’t really understand that there’s always been kids in here until 7 o’ clock.”

Austin added, as with past years, kids won’t be permitted within the beverage garden area after 7 p.m. After that it will be 19+ in the beer garden.

Funtastic beverage garden Friday morning (photo by Liam Verster ./ Vernon Matters)

There have been no changes to the music festival line-up, and Austin said there are some fun promotions going at the festival.

People who show up to the Sunday show wearing pink will be entered into a draw for two floor tickets for Pink’s show in Vancouver in October and a two night stay in the Hampton Hotel.

Austin also stated one of their regular umpires won’t be participating this year as she is battling breast cancer, so there will be collection stations at the gates for people to donate.

Austin said there may be other giveaways and promotions during the festival, but would not say what.

The Funtastic organizer did not have an estimate on how many tickets had been sold for the festival. The last update was about 1,000 sold as of June 23.

Austin said a lot of their ticket sales are done at the gate the day of the concert, and doesn’t expect to have a final tally until a few days after Funtastic wraps up.

Funtastic began in 1984 and proceeds from the event are invested back into community sports groups and facilities.

Music festival at Funtastic (Image credit: Funtastic)

by Liam Verster

Play Ball! Funtastic action underway

This Week in Flyers

This Week in Flyers

What Matters