What's Happening in London, ON…

A prospective London-area music festival was thrown for a loop when COVID-19 forced it to cancel its plans for a May debut – but it adjusted to produce a livestreamed holiday concert this month.

The Huron Waves Music Festival includes performances by the best Huron County musicians, as well as visitors from around the world, with hopes of drawing in music lovers from surrounding towns and cities.

This year’s December festival, dubbed “Celebrate the Season”, took the form of a livestreamed performance. The featured artists included a medley of local talent in different styles and genres, including classical music, ballet and Indigenous drumming, as well as acts like the Newfoundland Deaf Choir. The livestream also featured veteran Canadian actor Graham Greene as an announcer and narrator.

The festival organizers led up to the event with weeks of promotional and fundraising activities. These included multiple weeks of online auctions, with local products and experience capturing the feel of Huron Country. One week’s auction involved a much-coveted piece of rock salt from Goderich’s underground salt mine and a morning of syrup-harvesting and a pancake breakfast in a nearby sugar bush. In addition to events like this, festivals also advertise through tools like poster printing and promotional appearances on local radio.

The Celebrate the Season concert was livestreamed on December 13, and it is available to view until the end of the month. Organizers plan to hold an in-person festival in May, but have suggested that livestreamed performances may be a permanent part of the event going forward.