The 65 annual Festival of the Performing Arts has started and March 9 was the first night of the performances. It was an evening of instrumentals – strings, woodwinds and brass duets ensembles and it all kicked off at 6:30 p.m. at the Island Gospel Fellowship. Tomorrow there will be more instrumentals at 9:30 a.m., along with speech arts at Francois Lake Elementary also at 9:30 a.m. Followed by Choral Speech Concert Group at WKE at 1:30 p.m. Events happen all week long up until March 14. The honours gala will be held on March 18 at 7 p.m. More pictures on page 2. (Ted Douglas photo/Lakes District News)