The 57 annual festival of performing arts came to a close last Thursday with one last night of performances.

Thursday night鈥檚 gala featured some of the best performances from the week, including poetry reading, musical performances and singing.

Lois Koop, president and emcee for the evening said that the reason for the success of the festival is purely the passion with which the community has for the performing arts.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a great deal of passion for music and the performing arts,鈥滽oop said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 the community of volunteers and the hard work they put in that makes this so successful.鈥�

Among the many talented acts of the evening, Trevor Stewart鈥檚 performance on the drums of 鈥淔ive Grooves鈥�, a composition written himself, and Mona Toews rendition of Leonard Cohen鈥檚 鈥淗allelujah鈥� particularly captivated the audience.

Koop says the reason for all the talent at the festival is again due to the community.

鈥淭he community has created a culture here that supports the arts, and once there is support there鈥檚 going to be people willing to put in the practice,鈥� Koop said.