Estival Program Highlights

The Programming is ongoing, but we already have quite a line-up for Port Hope Estival, scheduled for July 31st, August 1 & 2, 2009.

Here are some of the features;

Street Performances and Buskers

Includes:

• a wide variety of programming, covering several forms of martial arts. 
• traditional dancers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds
• a variety of street musicians, featuring blues, ancient, folk, classical and Arcadian music

These performances are free.

Bandshell at Memorial Park*

*Alcoholic beverages are available at this venue

There is quite a line-up scheduled for this stage. Day performances include blues/rock, country, toetapping bluegrass, jazz, folk and dixieland.

Evening Concerts:

There will be a free concert Friday night at 7:00pm. 70’s rockers “11 Steps” will open the show followed by “Diana & Those Guys” who will take us back to the early days (50’s & 60’s Rock & Roll). The featured act will be Firesound, an 8 man band made up of Toronto Professional Firefighters who play Classic Rock and dance tunes from many different eras. These guys will really get your toes tapping and they do it all as a means to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy through sales of their terrific CD “Burning Love”. Remember this is a free show, but we are limited to 500 patrons inside the fenced bandshell area, so either arrive early or be prepared to watch from a distance.

Saturday nights special concert will open at 7:15pm with an encore performance by “Firesound”. Then by popular demand, it’s the return of “The Human Statues”. If you were at Estival last year, you must have noticed these guys busking as a gold lamay Elvis and a disco dancer with a huge afro and a bright white suit. Well they are also accomplished musicians in their own right, as you’ll see for yourself. The featured act will be “Low Level Flight” a popular Kingston band fronted by Ryan Malcolm. They are currently in studio producing their second album. Tickets are $25 and only available in advance from Scotiabank, Port Hope (who are very generously matching all ticket sales).

Our Sunday concert will take it down a notch or two. It begins at 8:00pm with a special performance by the “Hamilton All-Star Vocal Jazz”. Then Estival is very pleased to present the return to the stage of a local folk legend. “Aengus Finnan & the Badly Bent” will take us to the close of Port Hope Estival! 09. Tickets for this special show are only $15 thanks to the generosity of Scotiabank, and again, are only available in advance from Scotiabank, Port Hope.

Parade Highlights

Beginning at 10:30am on Saturday August 1st, our Estival parade is no ordinary small town parade.  The route starts at Pine and Walton, moves along Walton and ends at Queen and Augusta. Representation from various not-for-profit service and arts organizations from Northumberland County and to bring colour to a new level we have launched an umbrella contest with expectation of over 200 dazzling umbrellas representing schoolchildren, retailers, bankers, restaurateurs and residents. 

A Birds of Prey Demonstration

From 12:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday August 1st (and possibly August 2nd) there will be a a birds of prey demonstration by The Centre for the Conservation os Specialized Species. There will be a couple of owls, a hawk and perhaps a falcon for people to observe and discuss with the experts from the Centre.