A unique town deserves a unique music festival. There is only music festival like this.
Riverfest Elora 2018 will be held in Bissell Park on Friday, August 17, Saturday, August 18 and Sunday, August 19. Don’t miss your chance to dance down by the river.
Get ready for three days of art, food trucks, arts and craft vendors, community and of course, music! Celebrating ten years of the little music festival that grew to attract major headliners, this year promises to be spectacular.
Where else can you see a line-up like The Flaming Lips, Carly Rae-Jepsen, Blue Rodeo and July Talk – just to name a few?
Happy 10th anniversary
Riverfest Elora,
you charmer, you.
We’ve waited all year for this party. ALL YEAR. And we’re okay with it because, we already know that Riverfest Elora 2018 is totally worth the wait.
How can we be so sure? Experience. We haven’t missed a Riverfest yet, which means we have TEN years of adoring the little backyard festival that grew into an epic summer music festival and yet, has never lost its charm. True fact.
You have likely been to many concerts in many venues and taken part in music festivals in all kinds of venues from sports stadiums, outdoor arenas and maybe a few big parties held in cow pastures. Yep, us too. Good times, but no charm there.
But when you plan a giant party in Elora’s Bissell Park, with the beautiful Grand River running alongside it, complete with three stages, food trucks and vendors galore, an Artisan Alley, beer and spirits, art exhibits and beautiful greenspace all around, in the heart of one of the prettiest villages in Ontario, honestly, you cannot beat that. You just can’t. Because, when you imagine the ultimate music festival with the audience experience in mind – you grow it organically. And well, you can’t go wrong. So come and get charmed.
Because the Riverfest Elora organizers turns this ….
Into this ….
TEN ways we believe Riverfest Elora will charm you
into becoming a true heart Riverfriend:
They care about the environment. Riverfest Elora is a bottled water free and waste conscious event. They were awarded the Live Music Industry Awards’Green Operations Festival of the Year 2018, for all their efforts to keep the festival environmentally-friendly. You won’t find packaged water here. Period. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring their own refillable water bottles, or to bring their reuseable Riverfest Elora mugs from previous years. But if you are new to the scene and plan to enjoy a beverage or three, you can purchase your very own Riverfest Elora Mug for $6. Free water stations are on-site to keep you hydrated. Just a head’s up though – this year, plastic straws are banned too.
Riverfest Elora loves their beer, wine and cider They only serve the good stuff. So, remember – bring your resuseable Riverfest Elora mugs from previous years, or buy a brand new one for $6. Drink tokens are $7. The line-up moves fast, so no worries there. And just think of all the friends you’ll make in line.
Three stages. Back-to-back performances. Triple bang for your buck. Be sure to plan your bands with the FREE Riverfest Elora App … and you won’t miss a thing
Foodies love Riverfest Elora. It tastes good! Check out the complete list of vendors tucked into the food village set a short walk down the boardwalk. The food options are as diverse as the acts playing the festival, so we’re pretty sure your taste buds will be charmed too.
Riverfest Elora is joining the Keychange Pledge, a European initiative that aims to empower women to transform the future of the music industry, encouraging festivals to achieve a 50-50 gender balance by 2022. Riverfest has always strived for gender parity and for 2018 features 55 per cent of the acts that will take the stage fit the female-fronted band goal.
Yoga. Mind. Body. Soul. Sun Salutations. A little downward-dog. Stretch that musical festival experience with the incredible sessions of Yoga with Tania. You’re welcome.
Karaoke makes everyone a star, right? Sure it does. So sign up your friend or let out your inner Carly Rae Jepsen out and join the Boo Radley Project as you belt out your emotions in song. Or, just keep up with the live band. These guys are hilarious and they’re here for you.
Artisan Alley is full of unique treasures by unique artisans, because who wants the same-old, same-old? Nobody, that’s who. Browse. Chat. Shop. Get inspired.
Hockey. Yep, hockey. On Friday, August 17, the crew from Riverfest Elora are getting involved in the McGinn Brothers BIG Game in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Centre Wellington. This charity ball hockey tournament takes place in the groovy town of Fergus, (just a slap shot away) and will welcome NHL players Jamie, Tye and Brock McGinn, Ryan O’Reilly, Nathan Beaulieu, Lawson Crouse, Tyler McGregor, Korey Jarvis, Rich Peverly and more. Doesn’t get more Canadian than this really, does it? And nobody will yell “car!” because the street will be closed, so it will just be hockey, hockey and more hockey. And then rock’n roll. Sigh. It’s good to be Canadian.
Oh – and there’s like a whole bunch of awesome bands playing too. You knew that right? There’s about 60 bands. And after parties.
Check out the 10th anniversary Riverfest Elora line-up!
(Photos: Dear Rouge and Blue Rodeo will return to Riverfest Elora to help celebrate the big anniversary!)
So trust us when we say, you’ve never experienced anything like Riverfest Elora. When we say EPIC, we mean it! Pack in as much as you can. Enjoy Elora. Visit Fergus. Charm on every corner. You’ll be a Riverfriend in no time! Rock on, people. Rock on.