Festival of Friends

The Festival of Friends

A seated audience at The Festival of Friends
Genre Music Festival
Dates Second Weekend in August
Location(s) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Years active 1976-present
Attendance 250,000-300,000
Website
Official website

The Festival of Friends is an annual three-day free summer music festival held the first weekend after the Civic Holiday in August. Formerly located at Gage Park in Hamilton, Ontario, 2011 saw the event move to the Ancaster Fairgrounds, at Trinity Church Road. It is the largest annual event of its kind in Canada.[1] It is a major tourism draw for the region[2] and regularly sees weekend attendance in excess of 250,000.[3]

History

Festival of Friends was started in 1976 by artist Bill Powell Jr. as an independent folk festival in Hamilton's Gage Park. Performers for the first event at Gage Park included Willie P Bennett, Ray Materick, Brent Titcomb, Noel Harrison, Stan Rogers and Jesse Winchester. Over the next 35 years, the festival continued annually in Gage Park, and evolved into a showcase for arts and music featuring musicians, crafters, and food from across the globe. Over the years such top Canadian talent as Bruce Cockburn, Ken Whiteley, Jackie Washington, Burton Cummings, Scott Merritt, Tom Wilson and Randy Bachman appeared. After 25 years as director, Powell retired in 2000. Doug MacArthur, and Powell`s wife Lynne directed the event until Loren Lieberman became its long-term General Manager in 2003.

In January 2011, the Festival of Friends announced that it would be moving from its current home, in Gage Park, to a new permanent home at the Ancaster Fairgrounds.[4] The City of Hamilton had concerns about street parking, as well as possible damage to the trees in the park. While the Festival of Friends began as a small folk festival, in recent years the event has expanded to showcase popular international acts like Dr. John, City & Colour, Richie Havens, The B-52s, Chubby Checker and Don McLean.

Now that Festival of Friends has moved to an area of the city not reachable by the majority of residents, especially those who do not wish to drive, attendance to the festival has dropped noticeably. Many local vendors have also complained that corporate sponsors have pressured the festival to move away from featuring local and alternative vendors in favour of large corporate chains, while local musical acts complain that they are no longer being considered.

The Event

The Festival of Friends weekend includes three stages of music that run from 12:00pm – 6:00pm each day of the event. A mainstage concert series begins at 12:00PM and runs until 11:00pm. In 1985 it was believed that half a million attended the event.

Over 100 crafters, artisans and other vendors are available for shopping throughout the weekend, as well as a large varied "Foods of the World" area, a beer garden and a midway.

List of past performers

The music presented at the Festival of Friends represents a wide range of musical genres. Notable past performers include:

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Festival of Friends.
  1. ↑ "Mayor Won't Fight for Festival". Hamilton Spectator.
  2. ↑ "Celebrate Ontario 2011". Government of Ontario.
  3. ↑ Baulcomb, Andrew. "Festival of Friends Draws Thousands on Weekend".
  4. ↑ Morse, Paul. "Festival of Friends Moving to Ancaster". The Hamilton Spectator.

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