Afternoon rains on Saturday may have dampened attendance, but not the enthusiasm of 10 local bands and their dedicated fans during the 27th annual Hespeler Village Music Festival in Forbes Park.
“It would have been shut down if there was lightning, but that’s about it,” said festival host, Tracy Wolfe. “They are, definitely, a hardcore crew. That was my sister dancing in the rain.”
The free festival opened at 10 a.m. with blue skies as organizers, volunteers and vendors welcomed visitors.
“I have been involved with the festival for 17 years, but this is my first year as chair,” said Crystal Bechtel. “We have eight on our committee and multiple volunteers for the day and we couldn’t do it without our sponsors. It is run like a Swiss watch. We’ve got it down pat.”
The first half of the festival was geared toward children’s entertainment.
“We have the kids’ area that neighbourhood associations put on,” said Bechtel. “They have a full lineup of games, bouncies and squirt a shirt. We have three entertainers for the kids.”
The children’s entertainers included Sandy MacDonald, Barry O and Jake.
“At around 3pm we switch over to the adult time,” Bechtel said. “The beverage tent will open at noon and go on until 10 p.m. The entertainment goes on until 10 as well. They are all local bands within the Waterloo Region. The headliner is Seven Sundays. Missouri Boggs Coalition is back this year. They were fantastic last year. Nick Vokey’s band is back again. That’s great. Tabasco Katz and Shred Penner are new to us this year.”
Other bands included Copperfield as well as Jon Knight and Lorie Dietrich
The licensed beverage tent was operated by Four Fathers Brewing Company, on Guelph Avenue in Hespeler.
“We started last year and the festival is nice enough to give us the opportunity to run the refreshment tent again,” said Four Fathers general manager and co-owner Mike Hruden. “We are pretty excited. As part of the community, we love things like this. It’s a big festival and important to the people of Hespeler.”
Wolfe was a volunteer last year, but this was her first year as MC/host. A highlight of the day for her was when local officials including, Cambridge mayor Jan Liggett, Ward 2 Councillor Mike Devine and Kitchener South – Hespeler MPP Jess Dixon joined her on the stage.
“They made an announcement that the Forbes Gazebo that all the bands play at, will become an historically designated monument this year,” said Wolfe. “That was kind of cool.”
It started to rain around 4 p.m. and let up shortly after 8pm just as the second last band, Tabasko Katz, was taking the stage.
Even though many took refuge in the beer tent or under umbrellas, the rain had an unfortunate impact on attendance.
“I don’t know, but it was not nearly what it was last year,” said Wolfe. “There was at least a couple thousand, but last year they had five or six, maybe even 7,000 go through.”
