By Pepper Parr
December 12th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Burlington’s Sound of Music Festival Inc is aware that the City of Burlington has engaged in a request for proposal type process, to find an operator to work with the City, to provide an event for Fathers Day weekend in 2026.
From recent online reports, we are aware that the City plans to work with a non-local, National for profit operator, pending full approval from Council. We wish them both well in 2026.
The Gazette was not included in the distribution of this media release.
For clarification, Burlington’s Sound of Music Festival Inc is not a part of, run by, or governed by the City of Burlington. We are 100% independent. 100% not for profit. Driven by volunteers. Furthermore, we are not part of, or affiliated with, the new festival operator. Our brand, trademark, contracts, relationships and volunteers are not part of the City, or the new operator. They are our intellectual property. Any communication, video or print, that states otherwise, is 100% false.
No one ever said SoM was part of the city operation. What SoM has chosen not to say is that they required regular infusions of cash from the city
We have provided culture, entertainment and financial gains for the local community for the last 45 years. And are proud of the legacy we have created. Fathers Day Weekend was all about Sound of Music no matter where you were! We feel your love and share in the disappointment of what has transpired.
The disapointment was not just within SoM; thousands of people wished there had been better leadership and management within the Som organization.
Our event is not tied to a geographical location. We are a brand. We are a legacy. We support local, live, and community. Those are our roots. We are staffed by hundreds of volunteers, who take time from their busy lives, to help provide culture, music and arts to our friends and family in our community. Its time to get back to our roots and embrace the future!
Sound of Music has always talked about the possibilities; but never came clean with what they were up against. Collaborate was their message – but “can we do it behind closed doors.”
The statement that we could not believe was when Dave Shepperd said to Council, when they asked what SoM would do about a cash advance that had been made but not yet repaid: “We would like it to go away.
As we look to 2026, we will share our plans when the time is right. We want to thank all of our supporters, local and far. You have made our festival one of the best in the world. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Volunteers setting out locations for the vendors. These volunteers were stiffed by the leadership when they wanted to participate in who would become members of the leadership team.
We would have liked to have heard the S0M leadership apologize to the volunteers for letting them down. Many of those people put a lot into making it work.
With all sincerity and wishing all a happy and safe holiday season!
Dave, Jay, Julie, Mark, Al, Richelle, Vanessa, Bob
Board of Directors
Burlington’s Sound of Music
What is the connection between and Teen Tour Band and SOM if any.
Editor’s note: They march in the parade. The makeup of the committee is suspect. There is a real loosy goosey feel to the way some of this has gone. The fact is that Staff had the delegated authority – I wondered why Council didn’t pull it.
Editor.
You said in a comment to the “There will be a Music Festival June 19 – 21st, 2026 – won’t be the Sound of Music” that you are ok with the choice of a SoM replacement being blindly delegated by Council to City staff. Yet here you wonder why Council did not pull it’s authority blindly delegated to staff.
What is the status as to repayment or forgiveness of the cash advance?
If any part of the advance is forgiven the intellectual property of Sound of Music Festival Inc. including the name, should be donated/transferred to the City as a quid pro quo.