The 20th edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival brought about 50,000 people to Hog’s Back Park from Sept. 10-14.
This year, the event was pushed back a week from its usual timing.
Festival spokesperson Joe Reilly said the event was moved back a week to accommodate schedules for those occupied with the month’s busy start.
“The feeling there from our executive director was that during the first week of September everyone’s getting back to school—especially families—and that maybe it’s too busy to consider,” he said.
But during the event’s scheduled five days, the festival’s weather deterred some from attending.
Both Carleton and University of Ottawa students received a day pass for Friday’s shows in their frosh kits. Kimberley Fluney, a first-year psychology student at Carleton said she and her friends opted out of going, partly due to the poor weather.
“It was cold and raining,” she explained.
Whether or not the festival will stick to its new schedule will be decided in the next couple of months, Reilly said.
This year’s event was also the target of 73 noise complaints, according to Linda Anderson, chief of bylaw and regulatory services.
On the first night, the city issued a fine of $305 against the festival for playing after 11 p.m. and then stationed bylaw officers on-site for the remainder of the festival, she said.
The placement of the stages, particularly the main one, may have been a factor in carrying the shows’ music out so far said Mark Monahan, executive director of the festival.
“The problem is once you place your stages there, there’s little you can really change,” he said. “We’re looking for a way to change the stages.”
In tune with keeping the festival unique and community-driven, festival organizers added a craft beer house with a full indoor stage to the free side of the site this year, Monahan said. The craft beer house focused on Canadian breweries with local Beau’s, Broadhead, alongside Mill St. and Rickard’s.
The festival’s free workshops and sessions help to distinguish the event from other music festivals in the city, he explained, and keep it grounded to its original sense.
