News

2023 applications for Youth Discoveries: The Road to Summerfolk are now open!
Youth musicians ages 14-22 are welcome to sign up for a chance to perform at Summerfolk48 in Kelso Beach!
Preliminary Rounds will be taking place in 4 cities across Southern Ontario, with a Finale in Owen Sound, and a chance to perform at Summerfolk48 Festival hosted in Kelso Beach at Nawash Park
Choose the city nearest you:
March 19 - Collingwood (Simcoe Street Theatre)
March 26 - London (Toboggan Brewing Co)
April 1 - Guelph (Royal City Studios)
April 2 - Toronto (Supermarket)

"In 1975, the idea of Summerfolk was largely due to two brothers, Tim and John Harrison: and the Grey-Bruce Arts Council. The Harrison’s were local boys, gifted with vision, and a love of music and the arts. The site selected was Kelso Beach Park in downtown Owen Sound. The park looked radically different then. It was just a dump for battered down factories and torn up streets. It was a low, flat, wet area with a small sandy beach on Georgian Bay. The ground proved to be soaking wet, so much so, that early organizers sold garbage bags as seating pads. That first event proved a refreshingly relaxed affair, while affording a richly hospitable welcome to performers and audience alike. It played host to such Canadian artists as: David Wiffen, Shirley Eikhard, Willie P. Bennett, and the Original Sloth Band (Ken & Chris Whiteley.) All who shared the occasion must have felt the magic." https://summerfolk.org/history/

The magic that is constantly alluded to by Summerfolk patrons is perhaps due to this early effort by organizers to cultivate this spirit. True to Harrison’s folk music definition, early festivals hosted a wide variety of performers, notables such as Bruce Cockburn, Stan Rogers, Don MacLean and David Amram. The success of the festival was then and is now, due to the enormous amount of time and energy contributed by willing volunteers.- Summerfolk Festival Organization

More info here