By Spencer Sterritt

Friends and family shred and party to celebrate and honour local legend Heidi Plato

Jul 29, 2018 | 12:39 PM

NANAIMO — Some memorials and celebrations of life are stately affairs with nicely dressed friends and family listening to speeches and often somber piano music.

That isn’t the case at a rural Cedar house every year, where the memory of Heidi Plato is honoured with ear splitting punk music, good food, great friends and a wild party.

Plato, 51 at the time, was killed on Nov. 10 2015 when she was hit by Dustin Dennis Zinter on Yellow Point Rd. not far from her house. Since then, the Awkward Fest she and her partner Pete Vizvari held in their backyard has been dedicated to her.

“It’s her spirit which keeps it going,” Vizvari said after he stepped aside from his many duties throwing the festival, which started before noon on Saturday, July 28 and raged well into the next morning. “It’s just good friends playing good music.”

Nearly every band member who took the stage in the backyard knew Plato in some way, whether they were great friends for years or only became brief friends before she passed away.

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No matter how long people had known her, they all said the same thing about the bassist who learned to drum, had surfed in over 30 countries and lived for punk rock.

“A lot of people said she was sunshine, a bright light that lit up a room. She was a good soul and helped people,” Vizvari said.

He and Plato met 30 years before at a Rolling Stones concert in Regina and quickly fell in love.

“We just wanted to be together forever after that. We moved here to get away from the big city and be part of a community. We moved here and it was almost instant that we met people and it grew into 24 bands playing in the backyard.”

Awkward Fest was held for many years before Plato was fatally hit by Zinter. Vizvari said it made sense to keep the festival going without her.

“I didn’t know what to do except keep on keeping on and all my friends helped me through the hardest time of my life. This is my way of honouring her and my friends. It’s just a free day for everyone to get together as friends and remember Heidi.”

In contrast with the outgoing personality many people at AwkwardFest remembered, her best friend Annette Fonda said Plato was actually quite introverted.

“She was really kind of introverted and quiet, but because she was such a shining star she couldn’t hide her light,” Fonda said, illustrating how complex and layered Plato was.

“Now she’s a legend, a rock star. She’s become something more,” Fonda said while looking out over the backyard and dozens of Plato’s friends and family.

Like many of those enjoying the sometimes crass, often-catchy and energized music, Fonda met Plato briefly at a party and they were quickly drawn to one another and became fast friends. Fonda said Plato exuded a sense of community and would go out of her way to make sure everyone had a good time.

“Heidi would invite you over, ask you what you need and she’d cook you a really fabulous dinner,” Fonda said. “And then if the fridge broke down she’d go fix it. She’d go change the oil in her truck. She was a good little German girl who kept her garden and house clean and was very creative. She was a lot of different things.”

To honour Plato, her bass was used by close friend Shannon “Hoon Trash” Craig, who plays in her favourite band called The Gnar Gnars. He met Plato and Vizvari at a show roughly a year-and-a-half before she passed away.

One of his fondest memories is playing their first Awkward Fest when Plato asked what they wanted to drink and eat as part of their tour rider. Craig said he and the band were shocked as Plato went around to every store trying to find a very specific ice tea drink for one of the band members who would be playing a free show in a rural backyard.

“You’d hang out in Heidi’s presence for a few minutes and you were at ease and felt good,” Craig said. “She had this power about her, a super generous spirit.”

Three years after her passing, Craig said it’s still emotional to play in her backyard..

“This year was extraordinarily emotional, with the court case going the way it went, it’s been brutal.”

Dustin Zinter was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to provide a breath sample on July 23, roughly a week before this years festival.

The guilty verdict followed a lengthy and convoluted trial, where Zinter fired several lawyers in the middle of proceedings, had one lawyer abandon him in court due to a lack of funds and his repeated claim it was actually Plato who was in his lane that night.

“With Zinter denying and zero remorse, lies and all the bullsh*t he’s putting forth in the courts and delaying the case for as long as it has, I’m super happy the judge saw right through it,” Craig said.

In previous years, the case was still held up in the courts which sometimes meant the festival lived up to its name in terms of tone and celebration.

But with Zinter’s guilty verdict, Craig said there’s now some closure for Plato’s many friends who come out to honour her.

“I wouldn’t say this was much a celebration. But I think we’re all relieved.”

A pre-sentence report is currently being drafted for Zinter after the guilty verdict and a sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled. Vizvari and other family members previously said they would reserve comment on the trial until after sentencing.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit