The lineup has been released for the 34th annual Peterborough Folk Festival, starting with two kickoff concerts Aug. 17 and Aug. 18.
“We have four full days this year starting at Market Hall on the Thursday night with The East Pointers and the Friday night at the Gordon Best Theatre with Angelique Francis, with Emily Burgess opening,” said festival chair, Rob Davis.
The opening shows are ticketed events, with free performances (donations encouraged) running throughout the weekend at Nicholls Oval Park in Peterborough, Ont.
“Part of our lineup mandate is diversity and inclusion,” Davis said. “If you look at our lineup this year, we have four Indigenous artists, several artists of colour and full gender parity.”
“We really try to bring people together from different cultures, perspectives and music style for everyone to enjoy.”
Other featured performers this year include headliners Broken Social Scene and Loreena McKennitt, The Sadies and My Son the Hurricane.
Davis said the festival is also a way to showcase strong local talent.
“We have 12 local artists playing the festival this year,” he said. “They will be opening and playing beside some of these big-name performers and every year we also sponsor the Peterborough Folk Festival Emerging Artist Award.”
Davis said that this year, due to the volume of exceptional entries, there are two winners, Irish Millie and Nicholas Campbell.
He added, along with live music, the festival also includes an artisan village, a beverage area and a children’s area.
“The children’s village is one of the most popular parts of the festival,” Davis said.
Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 20, Davis said it makes the festival a great family event.
“I would encourage parents to get the kids to the park by noon on Sunday. They are going to do face painting, they get instruments, and have a parade to the main stage to see SplashN’ Boots,” he said.
For more information, you can visit the Folk Festival Website or find the festival on Facebook.