Hillside Festival celebrates 40 years

GUELPH/ERAMOSA – Hillside Festival creates a community celebration of  culture and environmentalism every year here.

This year marks 40 years of the festival, and thousands flocked to Guelph Lake to celebrate from July 28 through 30.

There’s always a wide range of musical performances, food and craft vendors selling their creations.

Attendees can learn a plethora of new skills at workshops that teach tree planting, twerking and even kissing.

Whether people pop into the three-day music festival for a single afternoon or spend a week on the island volunteering with festival set-up and take-down, Hillside offers an opportunity to step away from the responsibilities of day-to-day life to celebrate the arts.

The non-for-profit festival is funded by many private sponsors and donors, as well as the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the City of Guelph and Guelph/Eramosa township.

Performers included DakhaBrakha from Kyiv, who had many festival goers talking after their memorable performance inspired by Ukranian folk stories and folk music.

Hillside Festival offered free festival tickets to Ukrainians who have recently arrived in Canada, as well as their hosts and helpers.

Tickets are already on sale for next year’s festival, which will run from July 19 to 21, 2024.

For more information visit hillsidefestival.ca.