The folks behind the successful Riverfest Elora summer concert are serving up a chilled version of the local event, giving Wellington County a unique way to beat the winter blues this March.
Elora Ice Jam is back from a year-long hiatus on March 7 featuring headliners the Arkells, alongside other Canadian acts Rich Aucoin and Legato Vipers. Both the Arkells and Aucoin have appeared at Riverfest Elora and local music buffs may remember the Legato Vipers from Hillside Festival this summer at Guelph Lake.
The event, previously known as Mill Fest, will start at 5:30pm and run through 11 on the grounds of the Elora Mill Inn. It is going to be chilly, but festival organizer Jon Ralston says that’s part of the fun.
“We’ve always felt that Elora could use some more exciting entertainment through the winter where it tends to be a dead period,” he says. “Our plan is to actually make it a purposely cold winter event – like a winterlude or carnival idea.”
The 2012 installment of the festival saw approximately 500 souls come out to brave the -10C conditions. Ralston says he hopes the bigger names in this year’s line-up will help get that number up well over 1,200.
“The Arkells, who we had at Riverfest this year, they went over really well and liked the community and when we were debating doing [Ice Jam], they wanted to be a part of it,” Ralston explains.
“Rich Aucoin is a super crowd-engaged artist, he gets in the crowd and surfs on a board – just super high energy and Legato Vipers are a bit more local and have a rock-surf kind of style and they’re going to be a really good, high-energy band to get the day going.”
He says events like Riverfest Elora and Ice Jam help attract young people to the area and put Centre Wellington on the cultural map.
“This line-up especially is geared toward a younger audience,” he says. “In the past we’ve usually put in some [acts] that will appeal more to the older demographic in the area and this is definitely going to appeal to a crowd that’s younger and from a wider geographical area.”
Ralston says there will be warming tents for those who may need a break from the cold, but no interior spaces will be open on the site. The owners of the Elora Mill will provide food and local breweries will be serving alcohol for those of age.
Ralston says if the event is a success, organizers hope to see it become an annual occurrence. “We want to see downtown Elora filled with people,” he says. “We want to grow it into a multi-day thing, maybe at some point a whole week where we have events going on all over town every night.”
Tickets for Ice Jam are $50 plus service fees and passes for children under 14 are free with a paid guardian.
Tickets are available now online at www.riverfestelora.com. In the coming weeks, passes will also be for sale at The Shepherd’s Pub, 8 Mill St., Elora; The Fergus General Store, 227 St. Andrew St., Fergus; and the Cornerstone, 1 Wyndham St., Guelph.
Any remaining tickets will be sold the day of the festival for $75 cash only.
