Lethbridge Roots Music Festival shows off new Legacy Regional Park venue

Construction on the Legacy Regional Park was officially completed in early August, and no time was wasted in showcasing the venue with a musical event.

The Lethbridge Roots Music Festival, a free outdoor concert, was organized by the Lethbridge Folk Club and Lethbridge Jazz and Blues Festival and saw more than 300 people in attendance on Saturday.

Tom Moffatt, head organizer of the event, said he was excited to see so many people taking part.

“We haven’t had a lot of festivals and music events for a couple of years now because of the pandemic,” Moffatt said. “So having this with 10 different artists here today performing is really something we hope helps the community and gets people involved with live music here in Lethbridge.”

Festival goer Sjoerd Schaafsma said he was pleasantly surprised with the lineup of performers.

“We weren’t expecting to spend this much time here,” Schaafsma said. “(We were) thinking, oh, it’s going to be a really hot day, but the breeze panned out just great and we kept enjoying the music going from one place to the next.”

Lethbridge Folk Club member John King echoed Schaafsma’s sentiment.

“The variety of music is unbelievable and to have them all in one place for a one-day festival is just exciting,” King said, adding that he heard lots of great feedback from the community on Saturday regarding the free event.

“People are really excited about it, and they’re asking if we can do one next year, and we’re not sure yet.”

Legacy Park is public, and because of current city bylaws, is only allowed to host free events.

Moffatt said the festival relies on grant funding and they would need to find another venue that allows them to sell tickets in order for it to grow in the future.

“Whether we do it or someone else does it, I think that we’ve demonstrated that it is a really good venue and we could have spectacular events here,” said Moffatt.