The 2020 edition Fredericton’s Shivering Songs Festival drew in a record crowd for its 10th anniversary.
More than 2,200 people were drawn to the festival, which is meant to help break up the long and monotonous months at the start of the year.
The annual festival featured a range of comedy, music and art performances across 10 venues.
The record-setting festival ended with a traditional bluegrass brunch — a mixture of live music that drew an abundance of babies in the audience.
“It’s a really great place to come and see all of our friends, especially with young children in the middle of winter there is not a ton of things to do,” said Fredericton resident Cheryl Bowie.
READ MORE: Fredericton’s Shivering Songs Festival features all-New Brunswick lineup
Organizers said they strived to incorporate festival events that were accessible to all ages.
“It’s a really great event to wrap things up with, it’s very much a family-oriented event, very community-oriented, ” said Brendan Magee, the co-organizer of the Shivering Songs Festival.
The Fredericton farmers market was converted into a dining hall for the show. Folks in the crowd feasted on brunch and sang along to the bands while children danced freely in the isles.
But not every kid was cutting a rug. Isabelle Cullen, 9, was helping to serve brunch.
“I think it’s just really fun and I love volunteering and I think it’s for a really good reason,” she said.
Isabelle says there are perks to the gig — she gets to listen to performers like Alan Jeffries, whose bluegrass band was hitting the stage for the eighth time this year.
“It means a lot that people come and keep coming,” said Jeffries.
“It’s not just a music festival it’s an arts and culture festival.”
He was impressed with the Shivering Songs Festival pulling off an all New Brunswick line up.
“There is something for you at this festival, it doesn’t matter what your inclination is musically or what kind of art you are into there is something here for you,” said Jeffries.
For Bowie, that “something” was reuniting with old friends.
“We recently moved back from Toronto so it’s just a great reminder about why we moved home and its very East Coast-y, ” she said.
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