ELORA – Riverfest Elora artistic director Spencer Shewen said this year’s festival was “the best Riverfest we’ve ever had.”
The weather this past weekend was warm and sunny after skies poured on the music festival last year.
Riverfest officials estimated there were around 5,000 attendees per day between Aug. 15 and 17, with crowds peaking on Sunday to see headliner City and Colour.
Other headliners included Silversun Pickups on Friday and Fitz and The Tantrums on Saturday.
Powering this year’s festival was over 600 volunteers, the most the festival has ever had.
Shewen said the “whole festival is run with volunteers,” with Riverfest only having three year-round staff members, and another few that are seasonal.
He said the volunteers “crushed it” and all put so much care into the festival.
Not everything went according to plan, however.
Yukon Blonde was set to play Saturday night, but their flight was cancelled because of the Air Canada strike.
Past Riverfest headliner Sam Roberts Band was able to step up and fill in the gap.
Shewen said he will try to bring Yukon Blonde back next year.
Other artists were also affected by the strike, such as Rich Aucoin, whose Saturday morning flight got cancelled.
Aucoin made the drive from Halifax and arrived for his Sunday evening performance.
As Riverfest celebrated its 15th festival over the weekend, Shewen looked back at how it has developed over years.
“It just gets better and better all the time,” he said.
“And you know, it’s amazing that we’ve been around for 15 years. A lot of festivals don’t make it that long, and it just shows really how much support we have from the community.”
Shewen said next year’s festival planning is already underway, with a few artists scheduled and tickets on sale at early bird prices.
