Weekend marks triumphant return for Riverfest

ELORA – Riverfest Elora offered a profitable weekend, returning after a two yr pandemic hiatus.

The annual music pageant ran Aug. 19 to 21 at Bissell Park in Elora.

The occasion marked the pageant’s twelfth yr, and a robust one again, because it was the primary time the pageant was capable of supply a full instalment since 2019.

“It was great getting our workforce again collectively after three years… and with the ability to make a distinction in individuals’s lives,” stated pageant creative director Spencer Shewen.

Final yr, Riverfest organizers provided a “Want you Had been Right here,” pageant in leu of the normal pageant to adjust to pandemic restrictions.

Riverfest Elora officers have beforehand credited its success in making it via the pandemic to ongoing contributions from its creative partnerships and the help of the group.

This yr organizers have been capable of return to an entire line up with over 50 performers showing.

“After worrying for a couple of years… and never working it for a couple of years, we truly have been capable of pull it off fairly fairly easily – it felt prefer it was proper again to the way it was,” stated proprietor and president Jon Ralston.

This yr’s pageant consisted of an nearly totally Canadian lineup, with solely two of the 59 performers coming from throughout the border.

Headliners included newcomers Alessia Cara, Mom Mom, and returning act The Superb Sons. 

Native acts like The Diner Mints, Madison Galloway, the Boo Radley Undertaking, Royal Castles and I, the Mountain have been additionally featured on this yr’s lineup.

In earlier years, the pageant has drawn in crowds of 5,000 individuals per day and Ralston estimated this years turnout was much like 2019 numbers.

Whereas the weekend ran comparatively easily, Ralston stated thunderstorm warnings Sunday almost cancelled the final day of the pageant.

“We nearly canceled your complete day outright, however we type of simply determined to go hour by hour and it turned in our favour,” he stated, with your complete day working.

Subsequent yr Riverfest is deliberate for Aug. 18 to twenty, stated Shewen. He added there could also be some surprises within the works all year long as properly.

“We might need individuals to maintain a watch out for another surprises – particular occasions we’re engaged on,” he stated. 

“A giant thanks to Centre Wellington for supporting us,” Ralston added.