User:Kemper Slag/sandbox

Armstrong Metalfest, formerly known as Armstrong Open Air (AOA), began in the summer of 2009 and was founded by Jesse Valstar. Just as all festivals do, Armstrong Metalfest started out small, on a rural farm just outside of Armstrong BC. The first year, with no advertising, drew about 300 people out to see 11 Okanagan metal bands on a small stage made up from a pair of flatdeck trailers. Over the next 6 years Armstong Open Air would grow from the small backyard party into what is now know as the largest Metal Festival in all of western Canada. The band line-up that started out consisting of less than a dozen bands from the Okanagan has exploded into an assemblage of over 35 bands emanating from all over the world, and from all different sub-genres of metal.