Got the winter blues? This B.C. music festival wants to turn that frown upside down

The organizer of a new music festival in Williams Lake, B.C., hopes to provide a "thick blanket of warm harmonies and hip-swaying beats" this weekend to help people combat the winter blues.

Arts on the Fly, a music fest in Horsefly, B.C., was cancelled last summer as wildfires neared the town, and organizer Brandon Hoffman said he wanted to hold another event to make up for it. 

"It was just a pretty bizarre atmosphere around the community while everyone was evacuating," Hoffman told CBC's Doug Herbert.

"Festival organizers were certainly feeling some dark times."

Hence the name of this new festival, Dark Times.

Though the festival isn't in Horsefly, where the summer festival usually happens, Hoffman said organizing a festival for a larger city has been easy. 

"Pretty much right from when we announced we were going to do it, people were eager," he said. 

• B.C. festivals seek ways to recover from wildfires

"I was concerned about finding billets for all these people but the volunteer power of being right in town [makes it easier] than out in Horsefly."

The festival features 26 acts, which Hoffman describes as riding the line between folk and electronic music.

Four venues around Williams Lake will host the musicians from March 2 to 4.

With files from Daybreak Kamloops