Riverfest Elora organizers are bringing the Tragically Hip’s last concert to the festival on Aug. 20.
“We figured it was an iconic kind of moment in music history for them to be doing this last show and we kind of wanted to provide the opportunity to not miss out on it,” said Riverfest Elora president and artistic director Jon Ralston.
“If people are planning on staying and watching it at home on TV instead of coming to the concert because they want to get a view of it we’re losing out but also there’s the opportunity then for them to come and watch it in a concert setting.
“You’ve got a whole bunch of people in an area watching it all together like they’re watching this concert so it’s kind of mutually beneficial.”
The Hip’s last concert, which is taking place in Kingston Ont. will be aired at the Kitras Art Glass Pavilion located along the boardwalk path behind the main stage and close to the food vendors.
“In some ways it’s sort of the next best thing,” said site director Shawn Watters. “If you can’t be there live watching them in Kingston for their last show you can at least be in a concert setting watching them in Elora.”
When the tent isn’t being used for the CBC’s airing of the Hip concert it will offer shade for concertgoers and between 3 and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday yoga will be offered.
Riverfest Elora opens on Aug. 19 at 3pm and runs until 10pm on Aug. 21.
On Friday night the headliner is Walk Off the Earth, Saturday is Chromeo and Sunday are The Sheepdogs and Hey Rosetta!
“When we put together the lineup for this year we really tried to make it basically one big playlist so (if) you put all the music for all the bands onto a playlist on your computer you could play it and hit shuffle and never want to skip a song,” said festival manager Spencer Shewen. “It all fits together even though it’s all very different.”
For a complete lineup visit http://riverfestelora.com/2016-schedule and to listen to tunes from this year’s Riverfest artists visit http://www.slacker.com/station/riverfest-elora.
Riverfest Elora will also be launching a smart phone app in the days leading up to the festival so that information about artist signings, band schedules and any other relevant details can be at the fingertips of the crowd while keeping in line with Riverfest’s environmentally-friendly policies like free water refilling stations for reusable water bottles.
On any given day a sold out crowd would mean there are 6,000 people at the event.
“We’re under the premise of Riverfest more being the premier boutique festival in Canada,” Ralston said. “We bring big acts into it but it still maintains its small boutique festival feel to it.”
Set in Bissell Park beside the Grand River he said it offers a “world-class large-scale talent … in an intimate natural landscape setting.”
And though organizers have no intention of expanding Bissell Park’s Riverfest Elora, they aren’t opposed to expanding in a more general sense.
“We’ve talked about expanding as far as going to multiple events throughout the year,” Ralston said. “We don’t ever want to leave that location and that location’s pretty much maxed out as far as the size and scale of it.”
Even with 70 per cent of the people attending Riverfest coming from outside Centre Wellington, and 35% of those are from the Toronto area, Watters said it’s very important to the festival to maintain a good relationship with the local community and the township.
“We work very hard that way to keep them apprised of all the stuff that relates to the festival and we’ve had a very good relationship with them so we like to have a good neighbour policy with the neighbours in and around the festival,” he said.
There are still weekend and individual day tickets available. If they’re purchased locally (cash only) at Ashanti in Elora or Van Gali’s Café and Inn in Fergus the tickets are the flat rate with no tax.
Tickets cost $140 for the weekend, $55 for Friday, $80 for Saturday and $65 for Sunday before taxes and fees.
They can also be purchased online at https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1017301.
The 19-plus after parties will be held on Friday and Saturday nights at the Elora Brewing Company, the Shepherd’s Pub, the Elora Legion and Wreckless Eric. Tickets are $10 a night and will allow holders to “hop” between the different venues and are available for purchase online or at the event.
Riverfest will also host its fourth year with an artisan alley where various vendors will set up shop for the weekend.
Food vendors will do the same producing items that will be inclusive of all dietary restrictions.
