By Staff
May 5th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
There is an event that has taken place in Lowville for the past two years. It was low key – held in church halls with some very good productions. There is a bass player who performed last year that you would pay a premium price to hear anywhere else.
The Festival is the brainchild of a group of people that believed the arts and entertainment could and should flourish in the rural part of the city. Rob Missen, who had his name added to the Performing Arts Centre Hall of Fame, local actress Loretta Bailey and Barbara Andersen Huget do the thinking and the strategics and get the credit for keeping the idea alive and growing it to the point where there is some corporate funding – Burlington Hydro is on board.
This, their third year, they are bringing some intriguing new initiatives for its third annual festival, held this year on May 26-18 in venues along the fabled Guelph Line.
There is something about tents – they take us back to our childhood days and remind us of the circus and fun. The Lowville Festival needed a space that was bigger and cooler than the church halls they used during the first two years.
The BIG new is the Big Top, a tent that will be set up in Lowville Park along Bronte Creek. The Lowville Tent will play host to two exciting attractions, the legendary Second City Touring Company and Motus O Dance Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland, one of Canada’s finest dance touring attractions.
Second City will be bringing its popular satirical show, Canada: The Thinking Man’s America. As the name suggests, the show will be skewering our neighbours south of the border, as well as aiming not a few darts aimed about our own home and native land. The performance is at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $45.
Motus O Dance Theatre will be bringing its acclaimed show, Alice, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s immortal Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass. This colourful blend of physical comedy, dance and special effects is fun for the entire family. Tickets are $20.
Other Festival attractions include:
To Canada with Love, our opening concert featuring Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd, in collaboration with the Lowville Festival Choir, one of the festival’s most popular features, under the joint direction of Wayne Strongman, former conductor of Hamilton’s Bach Elgar Choir, and Janice Ketchen, conductor of Port Dover’s Lynn Valley Singers. This takes place in St. George’s Anglican Church Hall on Friday May 26th at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35.
The Art Gallery of Burlington’s popular Road Show will be coming to Lowville United Church on Saturday afternoon May 27th from 1-4pm. In addition to demonstrations by some of the City’s finest artists and artisans, and opportunities to create your own works of art, performances featuring some of the region’s finest young performers under the direction of Hamilton’s distinguished music director Michael Mulrooney will be performing in the church’s Sanctuary. Admission is free.
Singers interested in joining this year’s Festival Choir are encouraged to contact Choir Manager Robert Missen at 905-632-6047.The ability to read music is helpful but not essential.
Please call 289-260-1109 to reserve your tickets
It is a perfect dreamy location!
I remember the first time I went to the Stratford Festival in the ’50’s, it was in a tent. Maybe this is also the start of something big.