Pouncing and rolling around on stage with legs in the air, Rainbow Surprise Kitten clawed in International Cat Day a few hours early Thursday night with a legendary shake-it-up rock-out in the misty rain.

Rain and thunder! Or the fear of it, anyway, was the unofficial pre-opener for the 46 th annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival — tens of thousands of Gallagher Park hill bags heavier with assorted rubber gear and towels on a generally lovely cloudy day that did not encourage free-range beer chugging. More like under-blanket snuggling.

I even brought a plastic baggie and non-smudge pens for my 20 th century-style notepad!

Opening up at 6:36 p.m. after the festival blessing was the charming and spirited Aysanabee, “Oji-Cree, Sucker Clan of the Sandy Lake First Nation” in answer to “whe

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