In its third year, Penticton鈥檚 Ignite the Arts is bigger than ever before with events packed into each of the last 10 days of March.

From the popular Parade for No Reason, to three days of music and performances, the festival will close out the month in style.

On top of the events that start on March 22, the Penticton Art Gallery has two exhibitions opening during the festival. One will explore mental health and the other will take a look at Canada鈥檚 medical assistance in dying program.

鈥淲e have may have taken on more than we should have, but it is what it is and we have no other choice but to see it across the finish line,鈥� said Penticton Art Gallery curator Paul Crawford.

鈥淚n terms of our performing artists, we have a list and it鈥檚 up to about 75 individuals now.鈥�

As before, the festival will kick off with the unveiling of the mini-mural project at Cannery Brewing on March 22, which will be followed by a week of activities and events at the gallery and across town with local partners.

鈥淭he whole festival was originally conceived as an extension of our spring exhibition program, and just looking at expanding it and working with other community partners to create deeper opportunities for engagement in the arts in our community.鈥�

Those partnerships include individual local artists and businesses, as well as organizations like the South Okanagan Immigrant Community Services.

The growth of those community partnerships is fueled in part by those who participated or heard about previous festivals.

One example of the community鈥檚 involvement in setting up an event is on March 23, when the Community Art Walk presents Sculpture Day. This year鈥檚 version features Canadian ice sculptor Aaron Grant, who will be making a custom piece for the festival.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 all Renee Matheson,鈥� said Crawford. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a perfect example of somebody that has a passion that they want to pursue and are going for it.鈥�

Crawford also pointed to another local who will be part of the surprises in the Parade for No Reason, set for March 29.

鈥淎t one of our community meetings he came up to me and wanted to get involved,鈥� said Crawford. 鈥淗is passion is puppets, he had never done them before, but he wanted to get into making them, so he got together a puppet brigade for the Parade for No Reason.鈥�

Another new stage this year is the Legacy Den on Main Street, which will be hosting the festival鈥檚 new electro-acoustic stage.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of on the other end of the spectrum of electronic music, more sound art and not necessarily about getting you dancing, 鈥� said Julie Fowler, the festival co-coordinator. 鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely not our specialty, but it鈥檚 cool to bring in that element.鈥�

Look to the Penticton Western News鈥� March 29 print edition for a breakdown of the main festival weekend鈥檚 events. A complete schedule including Community Week is available online at