SURREY — As a concert venue, South Surrey’s Kingfisher Farm is a bit different than most.
Five times a year or so, from April to October, the barn on 172nd Street becomes a stage for live bands.
“There’s Christmas lights in the barn, and I think it’s just a beautiful setting to listen to music,” said Angela Neufeld, who runs the farm.
“We set up chairs in the barn, we make chai tea for everyone, complimentary, and we put out blankets and have patio heaters,” she added. “It’s kind of outdoors inside, and people tend to come dressed warmly on those concert nights.”
Next up is a concert by the Victoria-based band West My Friend, a quartet that plays acoustic music with jazz, folk, classical and pop influences.
Led by singer and guitarist Eden Oliver, West My Friend is on a fall tour that celebrates the release of an album called “Quiet Hum,” recorded at Fiddlehead Studios on Mayne Island.
(SCROLL DOWN TO SEE BAND VIDEO)
For Oliver and band, their concert on Wednesday, Sept. 21 will mark a return to Kingfisher Farm.
“It’s really great, a great environment there,” Oliver told the Now. “They have a stage in the corner with lights and they’ll make tea, that sort of thing, and everybody hangs out in the barn.”
Neufeld sounded excited to bring West My Friend back to the venue, located at 512 172nd Ave.
“That’s a sweet group,” she raved. “They’re really talented musicians from Victoria, musically intricate.”
Tickets for the concert range from $5 for kids to $20 for adults. Details are posted at Kingfisherfarmmarket.com.
“My hope is that these concerts would be for the people in the Douglas neighbourhood here, that people would just walk down here in the evening for a barn concert,” Neufeld explained. “But it seems people are really tentative to come to something new or unknown like that, right? But once they come and hear they music, they’d love it, but (the challenge is) just getting people here and convincing them it’s a good venue.”
On Tuesdays until Thanksgiving, Kingfisher Farm also plays host to a market from noon to 6:30 p.m.
tom.zillich@thenownewspaper.com