The Festival of Friends is an annual three-day free summer music festival

Music festival

A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...

 held on the second weekend of August at the Gage Park in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

. The 35th year saw it at Ancaster Fairgrounds. It is the largest annual event of its kind in Canada. It is a major tourism draw for the region and regularly sees weekend attendance in excess of 250,000.

History

The Festival of Friends started in 1976 as an independent folk festival in Hamilton's Gage Park. Performers for the first event included Willie P Bennett, Ray Materick, and Sylvia Tyson. Over the next 35 years, the festival continued annually in Gage Park, and evolved into a world showcase for arts and music featuring musicians, crafters, and food from around the globe.

In January 2011, the Festival of Friends announced that it would be moving from its current home, in Gage Park, to a new permanent home at the Ancaster Fairgrounds.

The Event

The Festival of Friends weekend includes three stages of music that run from 12:00pm - 6:00pm each day of the event. An evening mainstage concert series begins at 6:00 and runs until 11:00pm.

Over 100 crafters, artisans and other vendors are available for shopping throughout the weekend, as well as a large varied "Foods of the World" area, a beer garden and a midway.

List of Past Performers

The music presented at the Festival of Friends represents a wide range of musical genres. Notable past performers include:

• A Flock of Seagulls
  A Flock of Seagulls
  A Flock of Seagulls are an English New Wave band originally formed by brothers Michael "Mike" Score and Alister "Ali" James Score , with Frank Maudsley , Michael Kuby , H.J...
  
  
• Air Supply
  Air Supply
  Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of Graham Russell as guitarist and singer-songwriter and Russell Hitchcock as lead vocalist. They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top Ten hits in the United States, in the early 1980s...
  
  
• Bruce Cockburn
  Bruce Cockburn
  Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
  
  
• Don McLean
  Don McLean
  Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
  
  
• Leon Redbone
  Leon Redbone
  Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....
  
  
• Richie Havens
  Richie Havens
  Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
  
  
• Vince Neil
  Vince Neil
  Vincent Neil Wharton is an American vocalist and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.-Early life:Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton...
  
  
• David Clayton Thomas

• Dr. John
  Dr. John
  Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
  
  
• Eric Burdon
• Finger 11
• Gord Downie
• Great Big Sea
• Jackie Washington
• Jesse Cook
• Prairie Oyster

• Randy Bachman
• Ron Sexsmith
• Spirit of the West
• Stephen Page
• Steve Earle
• The Barra MacNeils
• The Nylons