The Orillia Spring Blues Festival... In 1996, a group of community volunteers organized the first Orillia Spring Blues Festival. This three day event at the end of April brought music lovers from far and wide into bars and restaurants each year. The programming included various workshops for young and old, from guitar building to playing the harmonica, movies on the blues, oral history of the blues, tributes to Ray Charles and New Orleans. The festival culminated with a blues jam session with a house band and open to any musician who wanted to participate to the delight of everyone in attendance.
After a one year hiatus, the Orillia Spring Blues Festival is back with key organizers Joe Fecht and renowned musician, producer, arranger Lance Anderson. These two Blues Festival veterans have corralled some new community partners and created some fresh new ideas! Moving to the weekend of June 6th & 7th, the 2008 festival format is changing to provide an exciting program of blues musicians. This year's festival is to be more inclusive of the community while keeping a focus on enhancing the downtown. An outdoor main stage with licensed area as well as participating bars and restaurants combined with the Chamber of Commerce Waterfront Festival will make for a very exciting weekend not to be missed!
The festival was self funded through venue fees, friends of the Blues donations, sponsorships and event button sales. Funding was spent on marketing and promotions. If you have any questions at this time, please contact: jfecht@orilliapronet.com