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2007 Post-Festival Thanks

2007 Festival was a hit with audiences

A phrase we heard a lot at the Festival was “the best yet” in reference to this year’s music. But that’s a subjective sort of judgement. And it’s impossible to compare a diversity of performances, separated by years of memory! We do have other ways of judging the Festival’s success, however.

First of all, we sold more tickets this year than ever before, and our revenue was up significantly. That’s partly because we staged two River Run Centre shows this year, for the first time. But it’s also a result of capacity crowds at most of this year’s concerts.

Our free shows also proved very popular to audiences. For instance, the first of five acts at the Saturday jazz tent filled nearly all the seats by 12 noon. That enthusiasm kept up for the afternoon. By 7 p.m., when the tent shut down, we had people wondering why we didn’t extend the free concerts right through the evening (we had a River Run show to stage in the evening, that’s why)!

Finally, our main stage concerts at the River Run Centre received wide acclaim, and the Saturday night Charlie Haden show drew our largest audience of the festival.

The best festival yet? – it’s an audacious and impossible-to-verify claim. A great festival? – no doubt about that!

Thanks to the Festival staff and volunteers

This year’s Festival was particularly challenging, because of staff changes late last spring. We have two groups of people to thank for helping pull it all off with no big hitches: our staff and our volunteers.

The core office staff in the three months leading up to the festival included Interim Executive Director Derek Andrews, Marketing Assistant Stephanie Cheung, and Office Assistants Elizabeth Vigeant and Megan-Fay Rothschild. They were dedicated and unflagging in juggling a myriad of vital tasks. The same can be said for our contract staff (Chris Cameron, Greg Fenton, Steve Hamilton and Paul Ord) and our past Executive Director Julie Hastings. When it comes to “volunteers”, we can’t name names because they run into the hundreds. Suffice to say that the returning coordinators and volunteers brought hands-on festival experience when all our staff were new, and our new volunteers provided energy and enthusiasm galore.

Lastly, our Artistic Director Ajay Heble provided his usual positive energy in the months, weeks and days leading up to the festival, as if he’d seen it all before and knew it would all work out just fine!

Thanks to everyone who helped out, for your hard work, and for your commitment to the Guelph Jazz Festival!

Jayme Stone reappears in Guelph this Friday

Jazz banjo wizard Jayme Stone is back in Guelph this week, for the third time in about six months (or fourth, if you count his double Festival appearance as two gigs). He’s playing in the intimate setting of Folkway Music, with Mansa Sissoko of Mali and award-winning guitarist Michael Occhipinti. The trio is coming off a mini-Ontario tour that included the Small World Music Festival in Toronto.

Book tickets by calling Folkway at 519-763-5524. Seating is limited to 75. Doors open at 8, show at 8:30 pm (hint: arrive early for a good seat). Folkway Music is at 163 Suffolk Street West, near the corner of Yorkshire Street.