While rain sprinkled down just enough to be annoying, the prospect of warm summer nights ahead emerged from the mist Tuesday morning (May 14) at Peterborough’s Millennium Park.
Before a sizable crowd gathered just outside The Silver Bean Café, Peterborough Musicfest revealed most of the stage lineup for its 37th summer season of free-admission concerts at Del Crary Park.
Musicfest general manager Tracey Randall and board chair Tracy Condon provided opening remarks before emcee Vince Bierworth revealed the acts date by date.
Including three concerts announced earlier this year — country recording artist Tenille Townes opening the festival on Saturday, June 29, alt-rock band Metric on Wednesday, July 17, and rap-rock band Down With Webster on Wednesday, July 31 — there’s a total of 16 shows scheduled.
Here’s Peterborough Musicfest’s summer lineup, with acts still to be determined and announced for Wednesday, July 10, Saturday, July 27, and Saturday, August 10.
- Tenille Townes – Saturday, June 29
- Road Apples – Monday, July 1
- Aysanabee (with Cale Crowe) – Wednesday, July 3
- Tim Baker/Great Lake Swimmers – Saturday, July 6
- I Mother Earth – Saturday, July 13
- Metric – Wednesday, July 17
- The Beau Dixon Band – Saturday, July 20
- Rêve – Wednesday, July 24
- Down With Webster – Wednesday, July 31
- Elton Rohn – Saturday, August 3
- Dwayne Gretzky – Wednesday, August 7
- Choir! Choir! Choir! – Wednesday, August 14
- David Wilcox – Saturday, August 17
One of the three open dates will see a Motown tribute band headline, the exact date dependent on negotiations for acts for the open dates and which act is available for which date.
“There are still some surprises on here (the festival schedule) for me — just seeing it all in its entirety, it’s pretty hard not to be totally excited for this summer,” said Condon. “I can’t say enough about our sponsors, coming back year after year to keep these concerts free. That just speaks to much to the Peterborough community.”
Admitting she’s “a country girl,” Condon is counting down the days to Tenille Towne’s festival-opening performance on June 29.
Meanwhile, Randall says the search for bands and subsequent negotiations on band fees starts early in the year and, with a few open dates on the schedule, continues.
“We have 16 artists in the lineup and we’re expecting 19, so we’re still working on it. We have three (government-provided) grants yet to be confirmed and about 20 per cent of sponsorships yet to come in.”
With band fees having risen, Randall says the challenge of providing a high-quality lineup consistent with past seasons remains a big one.
“There are many for-profit festivals around the region, with us being the only not-for-profit festival. Those festivals set the precedent for the rates. We have an advantage to having Wednesday night shows. The mid-week rate really helps me when negotiating for a premier band to come, when it’s already touring with weekend dates.”
This season’s concerts will again be performed on a temporary stage brought in by the City of Peterborough. The plan is eventually construct a permanent stage to replace the former Fred Anderson Stage, which was torn down in 2023 after the city declared it unsafe the previous year just before Peterborough Musicfest returned to Del Crary Park following the pandemic.
Launched July 1, 1987 under the name Festival of Lights with concert series founder Fred Anderson at the helm, Peterborough Musicfest remains Canada’s longest-running free admission outdoor summer concert series.
Overseen by Randall and a board of directors, free admission concerts are possible due to corporate sponsorships — most of which come from local businesses including kawarthaNOW — and multiple levels of government funding, fundraising initiatives such as Invest In Musicfest, and private donations.
Earlier this month, Peterborough Musicfest released figures evaluating the economic impact of the festival at $4.3 million, while nearly $1.2 million in wages and salaries were supported by the economic activity generated by the festival.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2024 season.
