With warmer months just around the corner, with COVID-19 health indicators improving and with pandemic restrictions loosening, festival organizers in London, Ont. are getting ready for an anticipated return to the downtown core for the 2022 summer festival season.
London’s Children’s Festival, Food and Craft Beer Festival, Home County Music and Art Festival, RibFest, Rock the Park, Pride London Festival, and Sunfest will all be returning with in-person events this summer after two years of cancellations, downsized plans, or virtual offerings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, festival organizers told Global News.
Save for RibFest, downtown festivals did not take place in-person in 2020 and 2021 as a result of COVID-19 concerns and restrictions put in place by the province. A downsized RibFest took place last year with fewer park vendors and no midway rides.
“I think that the jobs that these three events are going to create are very exciting for us,” said Doug Hillier, president of Family Shows Canada, which runs the Children’s Festival, Food and Craft Beer Festival, and RibFest.
“We know that the people want to work, and we also know that the people want to party. So we’re going to put it all together, and this year is going to be the year … I think we’re going to be very good this year at the festivals, we’re going to have a lot of fun and a lot of new vendors.”
The London Children’s Festival is among the earlier summers festivals to hit Victoria Park, running from June 17 to 19, while the London Food and Craft Beer Festival runs June 24 to 26, and RibFest from July 28 to Aug. 1. Vendor and volunteer applications are currently open.
Hillier said organizers learned a lot from running the 2021 edition of RibFest, which took place two weeks after the province allowed such gatherings.
“I think the the precautions that we got used to in last year’s RibFest weren’t that hard to work with, and we’ll do the same. We’ll be encouraging people to stay safe, do whatever it is that the city and the Board of Health would like us to do,” he said.
Also making long-awaited returns to Victoria Park this year are the Home County Music and Art Festival, and Sunfest. Both festivals implemented virtual programming during the pandemic.
Of the two, Sunfest will get underway first, running from July 7 to 10, while Home County will run the following weekend from July 15 to 17.
“It is such a breath of fresh air … It feels rejuvenating having this on the horizon, and it’s really great, it’s sparking a lot of energy within the organization and everybody involved,” said Tim Fraser, Home County’s artistic director since 2019.
This year will mark the 47th edition of Home County, not including the virtual events held in 2020 and 2021.
“It feels like life can just start looking a little bit more normal, which is a weird thing to say, given the state of a lot of things globally. But for our little corner of life, it’s a breath of fresh air to be planning and organizing and looking ahead at a really good weekend back in Victoria Park,” Fraser said.
Details remain limited about who is expected to take the stage at Home County and Sunfest. Fraser says announcements for Home County will come later in the spring, and notes there will be something for everyone among the diverse Canadian talent lined up so far.
“I’m very happy and proud of the lineup that we’ve put together for this year. There is a lot of phenomenal, phenomenal performers that we’ve got coming in, or that we plan to have come into the park this year,” he said.
Outside of Victoria Park, Rock the Park will return once again to Harris Park for the first time since 2019, with headliners Alanis Morissette, The Glorious Sons, and TLC.
The annual Pride London Festival will also be making an in-person comeback this year, but not in its usual spot in Victoria Park, where it has been held since 2010.
Instead, organizers say the festival, set to run July 14 to 24, will see its three days of downtown festivities moved to nearby Dundas Place, specifically between Richmond and Ridout.
“We just felt it was time for a little bit of a change,” said Stephen D’Amelio, vice president of Pride London Festival.
“We also felt it was a great way to embrace our community a little bit closer and to ensure that we’re reflecting the way that the city has changed over the past several years. We also thought it was a fantastic opportunity to utilize the new flex street and Dundas Place itself.”
Like Home County and Sunfest, public details remain limited regarding the entertainment lined up for the festival, however D’Amelio says the acts will all be Canadian, and notes organizers are excited for some of the “bigger headliners” which should be announced by June 1. Entertainment applications are available online.
The festival, now in its 42nd year, will also mark the return of the London Pride Parade, which will cap off the festival on July 24, starting at the Western Fairgrounds and ending at Dundas Place. An exact route will be released closer to the date. Parade applications are also available.
“That has been something that the current president, (Debbie Abdalla), has been extremely hands on with and making sure that we are trying to, again, bring all aspects of our community together,” D’Amelio said.
“Our theme this year is actually ‘let’s embrace.’ We really wanted to, as I said, try to ensure that we’re focusing on bringing the community together again and being happy that we can do that in-person.”
All three spoke of the economic impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their festivals and the vendors they collaborate with, and the ways they were forced to to adapt.
“We did have a lot of our organizations, our partners, including RBC, TD and the Ontario government, step up and ensure that we were able to continue to see funding,” D’Amelio said.
“This year we’ve had some excitement growing. We’ve had some of our traditional partners already jump on, and some new partners showing interest and trying to sponsor Pride London moving forward.”
Like other festivals, D’Amelio said Pride London made a digital pivot during the pandemic, and early last year launched a local streaming service dedicated to LGBTQ2 programming, the Pride London Network.
“This year it has been… I think everybody can can agree that we’re really excited to return … The last two years, it has been a unique challenge. But we’ve tried to adapt and continue to entertain, educate and celebrate our community in the best way possible.”
At Family Shows Canada, Hillier said the pandemic had taken a toll on a number of their clients. Some, like their previous midway operator, have had to close their doors for good.
“We’re one of the fortunate ones that still is here,” he said.
“A lot of new ones are coming on board deciding that this is what they want to do and and that’s fantastic. So there are a lot of changes, but you know, we roll with the punches, and we’ve been punched pretty hard, but we’re coming back and we’re ready to fight.”
For Home County, Fraser says a rainy day fund, community donations, and some virtual events have allowed the festival to make it through the last two years.
“Fortunately, we were in a position that this hasn’t completely crushed the organization to a point where we had to fold down,” as others have had to do, he said. “Morally speaking, it’s been really tough for everybody, because that’s what we love to do, is we love to put on these events for the community.”
“The organization wouldn’t exist without the support of the London community and the surrounding communities as a whole. I mean, the ‘home’ in Home County stands for Huron, Oxford, Middlesex and Elgin, so we’re very rooted in this area, and without the support of those surrounding communities, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.”
Further details and future announcements can be found on the websites of London’s Children’s Festival, Food and Craft Beer Festival, Home County Music and Art Festival, RibFest, Rock the Park, Pride London Festival, and Sunfest
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