23rd annual Sunfest draws record crowd to London’s Victoria Park

The 23rd annual Sunfest was the best attended yet.

Thunderstorms on Friday did little to impact attendance for Sunfest, and artistic director Alfredo Caxaj said attendance over the weekend more than made up for the Friday night washout.

The festival ran from Thursday to Sunday and Caxaj believes well over 200,000 attended.

“It was absolutely amazing, incredible,” he told AM980.

“It was truly insane. I think it’s the biggest attendance ever of the festival in this past 23 years.”

The free festival also offers a unique, open atmosphere for the musicians with no barriers between the stages and audiences.

“When they see this beautiful and intimate atmosphere that we experience at Sunfest, they cannot believe that a festival of this nature and this magnitude exists in London, Ontario, Canada.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "When they see this beautiful and intimate atmosphere that we experience at <em>Sunfest</em>, they cannot believe that a festival of this nature and this magnitude exists in London, Ontario, Canada."

In addition to performances by over 30 groups from around the world on five different stages, Victoria Park also played host to over 250 vendors selling food and crafts.

Caxaj is hoping that for the 25^th anniversary, Sunfest can expand onto downtown streets.

“It’s a nice problem that we have,” said Caxaj.

“A lot of people complain that the park becomes absolutely crowded at some particular times. So the whole idea is to continue expanding and making this festival even larger.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a nice problem that we have," said Caxaj.</p><p>"A lot of people complain that the park becomes absolutely crowded at some particular times. So the whole idea is to continue expanding and making this festival even larger."

The next summer festival to arrive in London is Rock the Park, which gets underway Wednesday.