The Lakes District Festival Association has had to make a tough decision regarding the 2015 Music and Speech Arts Festival.

鈥淲e have been forced to move the dates up into early March,鈥� said festival president Lois Koop. 鈥淲hile the Festival is usually held at the end of March or in early April, we had to work around the availability of the Island Gospel auditorium, Spring break dates, and the schedules of other northern festivals.  As a result, the 2015 festival will run March 10 鈥� 15.

鈥淭he entry deadline has also been moved up two weeks to Feb. 2, 2015.  We realize that this gives parents, teachers, and students much less lead time to plan their entries and prepare their pieces, so we are hoping they will take note and begin the process now.鈥�

To speed the entry process, the full syllabus and entry forms are now on the festival鈥檚 new website, ldfestival.com. The syllabus is also available at the 亚洲天堂 Lake Public Library, Western Financial Group, the Artisan Centre, the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 office, and Country Wide Printing in Houston, and from festival secretary Jacqui Graham at 250-692-3971.

Koop added that the number of entries have been steadily increasing over the past years, particularly in the recently reintroduced strings and instrumental sections.