Ottawa Business Journal - Local - Tourism

Article

Print
Send to a friend
Comment (0)

Folk Festival doubles attendance

Bluefest executive director Mark Monahan. (Photo by Mark Holleron)

Published on September 11, 2012; Published on September 11, 2012
OBJ Staff

Paying audience members at the Ottawa Folk Festival more than doubled to 25,000 to 30,000 this year, according to festival organizers.

Topics :: Back Park

That figure for the festival, which does not include about 4,000 to 5,000 people who attended free programming, was released Tuesday. The festival ran this past weekend, until Monday.

In a statement, festival executive director Mark Monahan said the acts, plus a reconfiguration of the site at Hog's Back Park, helped with attendance. Major performers included Bon Iver and Great Big Sea.

"Fans really enjoyed the changes we made to the festival site, so we hope to continue to improve and to build on this success," Mr. Monahan stated.

This year, Telus signed to be a presenting sponsor for undisclosed terms, on top of 16 other sponsorships.

Mr. Monahan, who established and continues to run Bluesfest, became the Folk Festival's adviser in 2010.

He loaned the festival $150,000 to satisfy its creditors and doubled the performance budget.

Mr. Monahan also moved the festival to Hog's Back Park, where attendance rose 25 per cent in 2011, according to media reports.

Rate
Top of the page

Submit a comment

Submit a comment Your name* Email* (we keep all emails private) Write your comment here*

Agreement

We ask that users remain courteous. You may not post insulting, discriminatory or inappropriate content, which may be removed at our discretion. We are not responsible for user content and opinions. Use of this site as well as content submission & ownership are governed by our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.

Member organizations should be non-profit in nature, and promote legal activities. Any organization found promoting illegal activities or commercial products or services will be deleted from the site.

I agree with these conditions.