When BC’s restart plan started to roll out, the province saw a lot of action in a short amount of time, especially when Stage 3 was enacted by the government of BC on July 1.

A swath of businesses, activities and events rolled out bigger plans to bring people together, especially outside. In northern BC, when people were celebrating a very warm, very sunny summer, that was music to their ears.

But on Monday Dr. Bonnie Henry said the rolling average of new cases had gone up 21 per cent in three days.

To put it in context, Central Okanogan has the highest COVID-19 cases with 737 nearly quadruple to the next highest Health Area in the province, Surrey with 189.

These numbers and news of the Delta variant have certainly put a damper on any plans to “get back to normal” in the most affected health areas of the province.

Active COVID-19 cases in northern health are also beginning to creep up again, Fifteen new cases were reported in the north on Tuesday, and the number of active cases was up by three to 111, according to data released by the B.C. Ministry of Health.

But despite this state of uncertainty, with forest fires and climate concerns, abd new COVID-19 variants, some have decided to dance.

Erin McPherson is one of three organizers of the electronic dance music (EDM) festival just outside of Terrace called Valhalla Fest. Valhalla Fest is a volunteer-run event and, as you’ll hear in the following interview, they have quite the vision for the grounds, cater to the event-goers’ needs, and have a clear COVID-19 and eco plan for Vallhalla.

The festival is three years old and is held on traditional Tsimshian territory on privately-owned old growth forest simply called the Valhalla Grounds.

CICK was very curious about the use of old growth forest for a party, especially in the climate of so much attention being given to the protection of old growth by forest defenders.

Listen now to Pam Haasen's conversation with Erin McPherson of Valhalla Fest from Terrace BC: