Fred fans gathered from Vancouver Island, the lower mainland, and from Gibsons to Egmont braving a winter snow storm to sing along with Order of Canada recipient Fred Penner, celebrating some 46 years of bringing out the very best of all of us through music. Fred invited us to open up our eyes, ears, brains and let imagination lead us to the Okey Dokey club…the world of magic where love, home and kindness to each other are celebrated. We all sang along to ‘1-5 and 6-10 Collect your thoughts and start again’; ‘This Old Man’ (Fred thinks children are born knowing this song); ‘Ghostriders’, and of course his most famous song ‘The Cat Came Back’. The whole room climbed the waterspout with ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’, and joined Fred as a child of the 60s singing ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’.
Many families of three generations, grand parents and children raised with the TV show ‘Fred’s Place’, brought their little ones to share the magic and pose for photos with Fred. There were many tears as adults remembered and a new generation of fans were in awe of hearing the music ‘live’ they have sung with their parents to Fred’s CDs.
Thank you Fred… you continue to inspire the very best in all of us through your music.
