Belleville’s Waterfront and Multicultural Festival marks 41 years

Hundreds of people attended Belleville’s waterfront and multicultural festival at West Zwick’s park on Sunday.

The three-day festival has been going strong for 41 years and was awarded as one of the “Top 100 Festivals in Ontario” for the fifth year in a row at the Festivals and Events Ontario conference in London this year.

“The program has evolved quite a bit from when it started in community halls and church basements around the food so we’ve continued that feature and the food is still a big part of it,” said Jill Raycroft, who is the Belleville Chamber of Commerce. “We have 11 different countries represented here today.”

That international flavour extends from a variety of cultural foods from Greece, Mexico, Thailand, Poland and Syria. Additionally, the ‘food village’ offered Canadian food trucks which served Tim Hortons and Beaver Tails.

If you want to see the park from new heights, you can fly in a helicopter.

The 1000 Islands Helicopter Tours company, which is based out of Ganonoque, offers their services to festival goers every year.

Due to high demand, the helicopter rides at the festival are only six minutes, however, those who took a chance to fly in one were left with a lasting impression.

Sonja Carlsson, a commercial pilot with 1000 Islands Tours said “It’s a great experience and to be able to share that with people and get them to enjoy it. It’s the best off-road vehicle in the world.”

“Getting up in the air and seeing this park from the sky, it’s amazing,” said Raycroft. “I think it’s a huge attraction and people don’t realize how beautiful it is.”

This year some of the festival’s live bands included the Soul Brothers, The Beach Bums and an Eagles tribute band, Hotel California.

The Belleville Waterfront Festival continues to offer free admission to the park.