Smiths Falls to host a new music festival this summer

Photo of Colin James courtesy of Live at the Falls.

Live at the Falls, a new outdoor music festival, is coming to the grounds of the Gallipeau Centre in Smiths Falls on August 16 and 17—and Colin James is on the lineup.

The festival may be new, but the organizers already have four years of festival organizing under their belts. They’re also the team behind the Kemptville Live Music Festival, which debuted in 2015. That event has grown from 5,000 attendees to 21,000 a year since then, with a 96% return rate. Organizer Karen Bedard says she and her colleagues are hoping to replicate its success in Smiths Falls. “It’s a great spot to have a festival,” she says. “Everybody’s been very receptive to the idea.”

The inaugural Live at the Falls festival already has a packed lineup of blues acts. Along with Colin James, Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues, Monkeyjunk and Angel Forest are among the performers set to take to the stage.

Although this year’s event has a solid blues flavour, Bedard says Live at the Falls won’t necessarily be a blues-only festival going forward. “We don’t want to really corner ourselves, pinpoint ourselves, in any direction right now, only because we don’t know from year to year what music is available to bring in,” she explains. However, she adds, “We’ll always keep a component of blues, for sure.”

Photo of Tom Lavin, frontman for Tom Lavin & The Legendary Powder Blues, courtesy of Live at the Falls.

Like Kemptville Live, Live at the Falls offers day passes, weekend passes and onsite camping options. Day passes cost $40 for Friday, August 16, and $50 for Saturday, August 17, while all-weekend passes start at $85 (taxes are included in all prices; service fees are extra). The festival team is currently approaching local businesses to arrange festival packages.

Live at the Falls is one of the latest in a string of new businesses and attractions to set up shop in Smiths Falls recently. Canopy Growth has drawn a lot of attention for its Tweed Visitor Centre, which illuminates the world of cannabis. Last fall, the U.K.-based luxury canal boat company Le Boat launched its Rideau Canal service, making Smiths Falls its home base. And in late 2017, 4 Degrees Brewing Company opened a tasting room at the Settlers Ridge Centre.

The new Smiths Falls music festival might be just the ticket to draw more people to the Eastern Ontario town, which is about an hour southwest of Ottawa. Interestingly, surveys show that between 30 and 40% of the Kemptville festival’s visitors had never been to Kemptville before coming for that event. Bedard hopes that Live at the Falls will similarly encourage people to come to Smiths Falls, check it out and then return for another visit.

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