ELORA – This little village was booming with the sound of music along the shore of the Grand River last weekend.
People of all ages travelled from near and far for the 13th Riverfest Elora from Aug. 18 to 20.
With performers rotating between four stages in the festival grounds, and then after-parties at various locations raging until early hours of the mornings, music kept flowing for three days.
Peter Piper, a pillar in the Wellington County community, welcomed attendees each day with the sound of his bagpipes.
Then Tania and Grace led a yoga class early in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, helping people limber up for some serious dancing.
Anna Paddock and the Lay Awakes wowed the crowd at the Grasslands Stage on Sunday. The band includes Patrick Anderson – the three-time Paralympic basketball champion who grew up in Fergus.
Elora music teacher Adrian Jones brought “his big big bag o’ukes” to the festival, and taught ukulele lessons to attendees of all levels.
Students from The Adrian Jones Music School Rock Band Camp opened the festival on Friday afternoon with a Rivercital in the Koop Tent.
Kids, who can attend Riverfest for free, also enjoyed Camp Riverfest and a puppetshow from the Paddling Puppeteers in the Boardwalk Tent.
Wellington County’s Boo Radley Project is a staple at Riverfest Elora, as this was their sixth year hosting karaoke at the festival. The baroque-indie-funk septet plays an impressive range of requested songs while festival-goers take a turn with the mic.
Guelph’s Shebad had a crowd singing and dancing along at the Main Stage and Jiggity James and Animal Boy, also from Guelph, played in the Koop Tent.
Waterloo Region musicians included the Reklaws and JJ Wilde.
Taking it in from the river
Some people enjoyed the festival from out on the water, sitting in canoes and singing along to the music. One paddler called out that the river is truly the best place to enjoy Riverfest Elora.
Inside the festival grounds were a range of food trucks and other food vendors, as well as local craft vendors selling clothing, jewelry, art, and other goods.
And then the after-parties
When the festival gates closed late each evening, many attendees walked a couple blocks over to Elora’s downtown, where the music continued at Riverfest after-parties.
After-party performers included Elora locals The Bearskins, who played at the Elora Brewing Co. on Friday night.
The Shawn Connerys are also from Centre Wellington, and performed at the Elora Legion on Saturday night.
Environmentalism
Riverfest Elora is organized with environmentalism in mind.
People were encouraged to bike, walk, or carpool to the festival, and shuttles brought bus-loads of attendees from Fergus, Guelph, and St. Jacobs.
Disposable water bottles are not allowed at Riverfest, so people filled up reusable bottles on-site instead.
There were volunteers from Wellington Water Watchers and Save Our Water sharing information about water advocacy work and the importance of protecting water supplies.
Anishinaabe DJ Boogey the Beat performed his song The Sage is on Fire, highlighting the need for clean drinking water in Indigenous communities.
Volunteers from Music Declares Emergency brought a print screen to make t-shirts with the words “No Music on a Dead Planet.”
That’s the name of their campaign calling for urgent environmental action in the music industry.
Addy-tude concert in September
Other information tables at the festival included Team Addy, raising awareness about sarcoma cancer and funds for Sick Kids Hospital in honour of Addison Hill, an Elora local who died of sarcoma cancer last year, two days before her 14th birthday.
Addy’s parents, Jessica and Dave Hill, were both at the festival, raising money and promoting the upcoming Concert with Addy-tude, a benefit show presented in partnership with Riverfest that will take place on Sept. 23.
For more information about the upcoming concert visit teamaddy.ca/addytude-concert.
