The Artistic Director for Summerfolk is deeming this year’s event a great success as the music festival marks 50 years.
James Keelaghan says while he wasn’t sure how many tickets were sold over the weekend, he estimates they were close to 2013 numbers.
“The crowds have been great, the weather has been fantastic, everybody is having a really good time,” says Keelaghan. “Our numbers are definitely up from last year.”
Summerfolk opened this year’s festival with a homecoming concert on the Thursday to celebrate 50 years, which Keelaghan says had a great turnout.
“The community turned out, we had 1,500 people up there. It just went off without a hitch, everybody loved it. It was just a fantastic community event. There was just a lot of really great feeling about the community and who we are,” says Keelaghan.
The lineup for this year’s festival included the MacMaster Leahy Family, Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Sechile Sedare, Shakura S’Adia, Coco Love Alcorn, and several Youth Discoveries winners.
Keelaghan adds the workshops have also been a great hit this year.
“People have been enjoying the mixes that we put together. The musicians have been enjoying playing with one another, it is just working like Summerfolk should work,” says Keelaghan. “It has gone amazing, we made some really major changes and people have been loving the changes and we are really happy those worked.”
This year’s festival also had several food trucks and over 40 artisans scattered across Kelso Beach at Nawash Park.