Dianne Johnstone

Just like any organization, there is history and a long list of people who worked hard to attribute to the success of the committee.  In our community there are many people who had the foresight to plan, organize, and maintain a local music festival for the education of the students of our area.  This year, we would like to shine the spotlight on one in this group of dedicated volunteers who were responsible for the beginnings of our Music Festival which celebrates it’s 51st Anniversary, Mrs. Dianne Johnstone.

Wayne Gretzky in hockey, Jack Nicklaus in golf, Mario Andretti in racing…… this list could be endless, but needless to say when you hear these names, you immediately know what they’re famous for. This tribute is for a famous lady who lives in Provost that you might not know……but everyone who is involved in the Music Festival movement either as a teacher, or student, or parent of a student needs to be introduced to her to honor and recognize her amazing contributions to Music Festival. 

            Dianne Johnstone competed in the Edmonton Kiwanis Music Festival as a young girl for about 11 years.   She sang with the Edmonton Opera Chorus for 3 years and the Columbian Girls Choir for 12 years, so not surprisingly when she married and moved to Provost in the early 1980’s, then Music Festival legend, Verlie Meiklejohn, jumped at the opportunity to have this very skilled and knowledgeable lady involved in our local Music Festival in some way or another.  Dianne recalls that when Verlie approached her about sitting on the Music Festival Committee, she wasn’t sure, but decided she had been so involved all her life with music and Music Festival that she could help out and soon after she was married and settled in Provost she sat on the Provost Music Festival Association as a Director.  She remained as a Director for a number of years and began teaching private voice lessons as well, so that even when beloved Verlie Meiklejohn retired and moved away, there was still the opportunity for local kids to receive voice lessons and compete in the Music Festival.  Dianne had a young family of her own at this time and managed to juggle being a Wife, Mother, Teacher, and Music Festival volunteer for a number of years.   She held the position of Director, Secretary, President, Adjudicator Secretary, and probably a lot of other positions that don’t even have titles!!!!    Her dedication to our local Festival was so important and she was a rock with such a wealth of information and knowledge as well as passion for the whole idea of music education through competition.  Her passion and competence of course didn’t go unnoticed and she began to attend Alberta Music Festival Association meetings as a representative of Provost and forged friendships with other musically talented people in the province.   This led to Dianne being on the board and executive of the Alberta Music Festival Association for a number of years and then eventually to being involved with the National Music Festival as well.  She was sitting on 3 Music Festival Associations at one time!  That is amazing and almost unbelievable and quite inevitable that she had to step down from our local Festival Association.  Just because Dianne no longer held a position on the Provost Music Festival, that didn’t mean that she wasn’t involved.   Dianne said that no matter which hat she wore, Provincial or National Association, her home Festival was always Provost and she was so immensely proud of this Festival and the work being done in our small Central Alberta community.  Provost has always been so very blessed to have Dianne as a source of knowledge for all things involved with running our annual Festival.   She has been available to advise about rules and general running of a Music Festival and has volunteered whenever she is able.  Dianne’s roles with the Alberta and National Festival Associations saw her doing many jobs, but she was very famous for her Fundraising efforts for both organizations.   In gathering information for this tribute, I spoke with many people at the Provincial and National level and all who talked about Dianne mentioned her tireless efforts in these organizations.  Dianne was referred to as the “Queen” of the Festival and she even had her own tiara.   Someone also mentioned that the was the “Vanna White” of the Dutch Auction fundraiser, displaying each item for sale to it’s best and managing to charm everyone into spending possibly more than they had budgeted.  She ran a “Gift Shop” at the Provincial Festival as a fundraiser and was well known for this tremendous effort.   There simply isn’t enough room to write about all the wonderful things people who worked with her have to say.    She is dedicated and reliable and absolutely invaluable.   Someone like Dianne is just very hard to replace…..she leaves behind very big shoes to fill.

            In meeting with Dianne to gather information for this tribute, it is apparent of her great love for the Music Festival and its life-long benefits to the kids she taught in her career.  Dianne’s house must have been a busy one with her own children involved in music and sports and all the students coming and going for lessons throughout the day.  One year, Dianne recalls having 30 students and also remembers that the most entries she had for Music Festival in one year was 128!  This is phenomenal.  The days and weeks leading up to Festival were long and exhausting with Dianne’s teaching schedule and the organization that went into hosting our week-long event, but Dianne says her favorite memories are the Saturday’s spent practicing with students.  The families of students knew how busy she was and took very special care to provide meals and goodies for Dianne and her family to enjoy.  She mentioned that Penny Hawken’s seafood casserole was to die for.  Over the years Dianne has met so many people and still keeps in contact with them today.  On yearly trips to Victoria, Dianne and her husband take the time to meet up with a lady who has been a supporter of the National Music Festival for years, and she maintains close friendships with people she met on the National and Provincial Associations.   Dianne met former Governor General of Canada, Adrian Clarkson at a National Music Festival and was invited to a dinner for Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Edmonton.   This was a highlight and such a special event for Dianne – Queen Elizabeth sat at Table 1 and Dianne sat at Table 4 with the Queen’s Lady in Waiting.  I don’t think Dianne wore her tiara to this event…….

            It was such a pleasure to meet with Dianne and talk about all her experiences with Music Festival.   She was very adamant that this not be all about her and what she has done because she expressed that “it takes MANY people to put on a Festival from the grass roots up and I have been fortunate to work with so many people who were passionate about Music Festivals and giving these musicians an opportunity to achieve their goals”     Well said Dianne and so very true.  It is so important that we remember and give an ovation to those who were instrumental in getting our local Music Festival organized.   Hats off to Dianne and many before and after her who have worked so tirelessly to keep this legacy going.  Dianne mentioned that maybe she would write a book about her journey and that her journey would be on a train because on a plane or a boat you couldn’t stop and get off and smell the roses.   We hope that Dianne’s journey is a long, pleasant one and that her train might stop so she can get off and smell the roses here in Provost during Music Festival week