It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for music festivals thanks to COVID-19. Many, with lockdown in place, have chosen to simply postpone for a year, while others have found creative new ways to connect with their audiences and support musicians. Now, with the Atlantic Bubble presenting new options, the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Society have dipped their toes back in the water – not with a full festival, with a series of summer concerts.
The Lunenburg Folk Harbour Society will be presenting free, live concerts at the Bandstand in Lunenburg throughout the remainder of the summer. The festival was named both the Event of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards and Community Presenter of the Year by Music Nova Scotia in 2018.
“Once we received permission from the Town of Lunenburg to present outdoor concerts, we reached out to Nova Scotian musicians who were scheduled to play at our Festival or at a concert series show this year. We know it’s been a hard year for them, so we wanted to give them the first chance at a spot in this lineup,” says Louis Robitaille, Folk Harbour’s acting Chair.
Robitaille says that the festival holds a place in the community that not only provides a source of entertainment but is designed with musicians, audience members, and local businesses in mind, as a naturally natural source of tourism in and around Lunenburg.
“Usually several Lunenburg businesses sponsor our summer series, and this year some of them weren’t able to. We hope to help them this summer by bringing people to the town and to their shops,” says Robitaille.
The role they play in the community still managed to draw in sponsor, despite the obvious challenges for crowds, with the Town of Lunenburg, TD Bank Group, Kinley Drug PharmaChoice and BMR Lunenburg Hardware making contributions to ensure the concerts could be offered free of charge.
“We think people will be craving opportunities to see live music after all the on-line concerts of recent months,” says Robitaille.
Each one-hour concert will take place each Saturday afternoon, starting at 2:00 pm. Beginning with Ian Sherwood on July 25, 2020, the series will run until September 12, 2020, with three consecutive afternoons on August 7, 8, 9, when the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival had originally been scheduled for. The outdoor venue of the town’s bandstand will allow for appropriate physical distancing and, in the case of inclement weather, the concerts will be held at the same time and place the following day.
Summer Concert Series Schedule:
07.25.20 – Ian Sherwood
08.01.20 – Caribou Run
08.07.20 – Terra Spencer
08.08.20 – Pretty Archie
08.09.20 – Cassie & Maggie
08.15.20 – Don Ross
08.22.20 – Norma MacDonald
08.29.20 – Reeny Smith
09.05.20 – Kristen Martell
09.12.20 – Christine Campbell
For more information, contact the Folk Harbour office at (902) 634-3180 or visit www.folkharbour.com.