Photos and story by Donald Teuma-Castelletti

The seventh – and what may well be the final – Under the Pines concert was a show so invigorating, there was barely a body able to contain their foot stomping in time with the music.
While more than a few scuff marks may have been necessary to scrape off the floor the next day, the entrancing trio of Erin Leahy, Louis Schryer, and Timi Turmel once again put on a world-class show, filling the room even as the concert moved into a venue with much taller ceilings.

“The new thing about this year is the venue – it’s just the most beautiful barn in the Pontiac and Robin and Jenn Judd have done such an amazing job keeping it original, but cleaning it up and making it look beautiful,” said Phillip Holmes, director general of the festival.
Having been previously held at Bristol’s Coronation Hall, the venue this year was moved down the road to Starborn Farms in Clarendon. Holmes said the move was greatly beneficial to both the concert and venue, as the barn got greater exposure and the acoustics in the hall, plus the backdrop provided, created a winning combination for the farewell dinner and concert.
The food was prepared by Shawville’s Café 349, using a combination of locally-sourced ingredients, including meat from Holmes’ own farm.
The piano used that evening was on loan from Don Pinard Piano Moving Specialist, provided to the festival for just the cost of moving the instrument. Previously, a piano had been loaned by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, but summer programming made that impossible.
“As for musicians, we brought back three of the best musicians in their disciplines, in the world,” said Holmes. “Their concerts are beyond amazing and we’re so happy they came back.”
With Leahy on the piano, Schryer stroked the violin as Turmel worked his magic on the accordion, joined by Holmes singing with the group at one point during the show.
However, for all the success in bringing together various parts of the community to make all of the festival possible, this concert was labelled the farewell show for one good reason – the whole thing has proven too much for two people to handle on their own.
“It’s farewell for now, it’s been very busy, we’ve got three young children and my wife and I don’t feel that we’re doing justice to what Under the Pines is,” explained Holmes.
He was quick to explain that as much as the show is a passion for the family, it still costs money to operate. It’s expensive to not only hold the concert, but to pay the musicians and local businesses involved, fairly.
It’s only become harder, he explained, these last few years as government grants dried up. Coupled with other personal responsibilities, like a farm, young family and a seat on Bristol council, the venture has proven too much for this point in their lives.
“The last couple of years it’s just been a lot of work, which is wonderful, but we don’t have the time to do the work necessary,” continued Holmes. “So, we’re stepping back from Under the Pines for a couple of years, at least, to re-evaluate everything and see if we can come back with some new volunteers and some new financial backing.”
He stressed that it was in no way a lack of community support for the show that has led to this decision, but more a lack of volunteers.
“It’s all about promotion – it’s all about getting out and putting the hundreds of posters up and doing the interviews and the press releases and doing all the work behind the promotional aspect of things,” said Holmes.
While he was all ready to put out the promotional material in April, life happened, and the family’s youngest child joined the world. After that, all the promotional work wasn’t released until the end of June, much later than initially anticipated.
“The reason the tickets aren’t selling isn’t because of support in the area, it’s because we don’t have the time to do the work necessary to get people to know about it, to sell those tickets,” said Holmes. “But when it comes down to it, if there is a deficit, we have to swallow it, and as a young family we don’t have the finances to continuously swallow a deficit for the festival, right?”
Admitting that it is sad to be unable to organize another Under the Pines for a few years, Holmes was disappointed to not be able to continue to work with everyone he’s collaborated with since the beginning of the festival.
“There’s been so many people that we’ve worked over the past seven years, it’s going to be so sad to say goodbye to that,” he said.
However, upon some reflection, Holmes appeared hopeful that the concert would return sooner rather than later, all depending on who steps up to assist with the financial and organizational efforts.
“If anyone is interested in supporting Under the Pines financially, or collaborating with us by donating their time, we would be more than willing to look at ways of keeping it functioning,” said Holmes. “But as it stands now we are unable to maintain it currently.”