14-year-old Samantha Wiltzen is an actor, dancer & singer/songwriter. She enjoys all the wonderful opportunities she has been offered to perform at local events and charities, in and around Edmonton for the past 10 years. You can also find Samantha busking on a regular basis out at The Old Strathcona and St. Albert Farmers’ Markets.

She is very proud that she was chosen to be a semi-finalist on the ATB Home Grown Talent Stage at Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose last week. Samantha is also proud to have won the duet category with her friend Emily, at Kalyna Voice, out at the Ukrainian Village this past June.

Samantha loves a wide variety of music, from country to pop & rock. Some of her favorite artists are Carrie Underwood, Jo Dee Messina, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Ozzy Osbourne, Janis Joplin, Megan Trainor, and many others.

Samantha fell in love with the Ukulele and is self-taught. She is currently working on recording her second original song. Samantha is currently learning to play guitar as well.

Samantha is very excited to be here to entertain for you today, and wants to thank the Vegreville Fair for inviting her to participate!

Other bands may be more musically gifted, or have actual hit songs on the radio, or maybe even have better hair. But the is one thing that no other band in Vegreville can match –  height. With a combined height of over 24 feet, the Off Ramp Boys can both entertain you AND get things off the top shelf at the Co-op.

That’s lucky, because the Boys like to think of themselves as musical equivalents of the the Co-op. The kind of Co-op where you can purchase your groceries, an oil filter for the tractor, and a bag of chicken feed at the same till. In the spirit of the Co-op, the Off Ramp Boys offer everything from old country to new country to rock to bluegrass to Canadian fiddle tunes. So the Off Ramp Boys are like Co-op: If they don’t have it, you don’t need it!

The Off Ramp Boys are Gordon Forbes on lead guitar, lead vocalist Randy Kereliuk, drummer Rob Hughes, and bassist/fiddler/mandolinist Ralph Lange. All are from Vegreville. The origin of the band goes way back to 2014, a time when the the Boys tended to show up at the same places to dust ceiling fans, screw in light bulbs, paint the ceiling and play music.  Examples include open mic nights at the Vegreville Train Station or at  Perogies and Jam events. None of us can really remember when or who first uttered the fateful words “Hey, let’s form a band”, but whenever that was, it was around then that someone asked the name of that “guy who lives beside the off-ramp into Vegreville”, meaning Randy. And so, Vegreville’s tallest band, the Off Ramp Boys, was born.

Kat Zel just graduated from Bev Facey High School in Sherwood Park.

There she has been a passionate participant in the Singer/Song Writer and Musical Theatre Programs.  Daily, Kat could be found collaborating with fellow students, creating music, and preparing for theatrical productions. 

She plays electric and acoustic guitar. Kat is the lead singer with the band – “Rareflower”.   They won “Battle of the Bands” September 2017, and as part of the winning prize, they performed live at “On the Rocks” on Jasper Avenue.  Also, the prize was a recording for their second single, “Skunkbag”.  This now can be found on iTunes and Spotify. Skunkbags video is on YouTube. 

Kat’s passion for music has existed for as long as she recalls.  Her fondest memories involve listening to her Dad’s records and CD’s from the 60’s to the 90’s.  Some of her inspiration comes from; The Cranberries, Jefferson Airplane, and Nirvana.  While integrating some of their vocal techniques into her singing, she has been inspired to synthesize a new sound of her own.  CBC Music Challenge adjudicators, recently called her voice “psychedelic” while comparing it to that of Janis Joplin.  So, as you listen to the mixing of old and new vibes by Kat, maybe you too will understand why she is so excited to share her music with everyone willing to listen. 

So far, this Summer Kat performed at Beaumont Blues Fest., June 17th to great reviews.

She also participated in Hawelerk Park at the FreeWill Shakespearean Festival.  “Sand on Whyte” Art Festival was her most recent appearance.  Big Valley Jamboree, has Kat performing on the ATB stage and additionally on the singer/songwriter stage this year.  Keep an eye out for Kat around Town, if she isn’t busking she is performing!.

Kaeli is a 15 year old singer/songwriter. She started singing and performing at a very young age. As she got older, singing grew as her passion, and she fell in love with performing. In her original songs, she writes about real life experiences, and hard times with health complications. She loves how music can give you hope that it’s going to be ok, even for just a couple minutes.