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Photo courtesy of mencc1707 on Flickr.

Review by David McClelland

When it comes to music festivals, those that focus on folk music often don’t get as much regard as more mainstream events, considered the domain of aging hippies and twanging bluegrass. And while the 16th annual Ottawa Folk Festival played host to plenty of both, there was lots more on offer, featuring a wide variety of musical performers and some big-name Canadians as headlining acts.

Taking place in the west end’s Britannia Park on August 21–23, the Folk Festival was probably one of Ottawa’s best musical events this summer. Headlined by former Barenaked Lady Steven Page, Canadian folk-legend Bruce Cockburn and Halifax-based rocker Joel Plaskett, and featuring a wealth of lesser-known performers the festival seemed to have something for everyone.

The three headliners were a study in contrasts. Page was very much the rock star, appearing on stage in a white suit and powering through an energetic set that included both Barenaked Ladies hits as well as some of his more obscure solo work. His characteristic wit was also on display, quipping early on in the set that he misread a CD Warehouse sign as “OD Warehouse” and that it was obviously the tent for him. Then on Saturday night, Cockburn let his guitar do most of the talking, captivating the 7,000+ in attendance with songs from all across his career, including hits like “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” and “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”. Finally, Plaskett helped close out the final evening of the show with a very down-to-Earth set which heavily featured songs from his recent triple-album Three. Among them was a rendition of “Rewind, Rewind, Rewind” on a $6 Value Village synthesizer, during which Plaskett took the opportunity to make light of the two days he’d spent stuck in LaGuardia Airport while trying to get to Ottawa.

Of course, beyond the headlining acts on the main stage there was much more music to take in. During the day on Saturday and Sunday, various workshops and acts played on five different stages spread across the park, which led to some interesting collaborations. A Saturday workshop called “Harmony Singing” featured comedy trio The Arrogant Worms providing an bit of a contrast to bluegrass group The Breakman and the Cajun duo of Ball and Chain. On Sunday, meanwhile, over 1,000 people crowded the Hill Stage to see the three headlining artists along with local singer-songwriter Ana Miura share songs about traveling in the aptly-named “Songs from the Road”.

Unfortunately, it would be impossible to mention every act that played at the festival, but there was an impressive amount of variety. Rock, blues, Cajun, bluegrass, jazz, country and even hip-hop could be found in some guise over the course of the weekend, which ensured things never got boring.

The festival also had a number of intangibles that made it worth the trip. For one thing, every meal was fantastic due to the variety of local and organic food stalls set up in the moderately-sized food court, with nary a greasy Pizza Pizza box to be found. Elsewhere, vendors from the Ottawa area and around Canada offered unique and interesting goods for sale, while a number of “Hydration Stations” dispensed free water to festival attendees. This saved over 7,000 plastic bottles worth of water, and made the Ottawa Folk Festival the second music festival in Canada to completely do away with bottled water.

Overall, the festival has definitely become one of Ottawa’s best summer events. If you’ve been iffy on going because you don’t like folk music, you may want to reconsider attending next year’s event, because chances are no matter what you’re into, you’re missing out on something good.