A glimpse at a weekend of nostalgia, fun, and music at Highlands Music Festival.

Every time I arrive at Camp Walden, I feel the overwhelming magic that I have felt within me every summer for the last thirteen years. Arriving at Highlands Music Festival this past September was no different; the air felt just as fresh to breathe, Red Pine Lake was sparkling just as it always does, and all the same pine trees I have grown up around were just new and beautiful shades of red and orange.

Camp Walden has hosted generations of campers summer after summer since 1970, creating a one-of-a-kind experience that sticks with you for life. At Walden, you live in a wooden cabin with no mirrors with people destined to become lifelong friends, you exist among the trees where there is no cell service, and you blossom into the most authentic version of yourself. Someone who loves music, who will gaze at the night sky until their neck hurts, and who knows that the simple life we have at camp with no technology, embracing the outdoors, and fostering real social interactions with one another is someone who would love the Highlands Music Festival. There could not exist a better venue than Walden for this ‘escape’ of a weekend. 

Highlands is a weekend long festival hosted at Camp Walden that celebrates a diverse selection of younger musicians, typically those who are a part of the Folk genre. They host an intimate crowd of approximately 500 people, all of which enjoy music, immersing themselves in nature, connecting with the arts, and spending quality, undivided time with one another. 

Being able to return back to Walden for the Highlands Music Festival is such a privilege that a ‘Waldener’ like me appreciates more than anything. Getting to see camp in a different light, filled with my friends that I have grown up with, my coworkers, my past counselors, and a great deal of people that have never been on Walden grounds is transformative. My days were spent at the lake with my friends reminiscing on past memories made together, and my nights were filled with dancing to live musicians that would soon become part of my everyday playlists. 

I got to experience the ethereal voice of Begonia, Canada’s ‘breakout alt-diva,’ during Friday night’s set. She performed in this eye-catching, bright red latex gown with her hands covered in rainbow-coloured jewels. Her outfit was perfectly complementary to her interactive and humor-filled stage presence that left the entire crowd smiling. Begonia’s powerful yet serene vocals came through with each and every song she performed, but most notable to me was her performance of ‘Cold Night,’ a single off of her sophomore album titled ‘Powder Blue.’ The lyricism of the song and the emotion conveyed through her performance has still left me wanting to re-experience what it felt like listening to that song for the first time. 

TEKE::TEKE, a Japanese psychedelic rock group, was an experimental act for the Highlands lineup. The seven piece band included two guitarists, a bass player, a drummer, a flutist, a trombone player, and a ‘visual artist,’ vocalist. The act was not merely a musical performance, but a holistically transformative experience, not only to me, but to every single person in that crowd. Accentuated by the dramatic lighting effects, dancing, costuming, and innovative sound of TEKE::TEKE, I can say that while they create something reminiscent of the 70s, their experimental approach makes their music unique to them, and only them. 

Kevin Morby, an American folk-rock singer-songwriter and Saturday's headliner of Highlands, was none other than perfect. I was expecting some slow, chill tunes from Morby to conclude the weekend, but received a performance that was melodic, instrumental, eccentric, and super, super fun. His performance of ‘Come to Me Now’ exemplified his harmonic strength and was incredibly dynamic. It made me feel exactly as I do when swimming in the lake at Walden during a beautiful, summer evening’s sunset. His later performance of ‘This is a Photograph’ exemplified the other side of Kevin Morby, the quicker-paced, funky, and rhythmic music that anyone cannot help but dance to. His was my favourite performance of the weekend, and it will be one that I  always remember. 

My experience at the Highlands Music Festival was inimitable. Being able to experience such an up-and-coming music scene, in a place I love more than anything, was absolutely magical. Music has always been a significant part of my life, and holds a strong value in all of my memories; it has this great power to enhance each and every one of our lived experiences. There is a reason that events like Highlands Music Festival exist; music brings people together, and is among the few things in the world that can make you feel nostalgia, joy, love, and beauty all at once, just as being at Camp Walden does for me.