Stratford Live Music and Food Festival returns as the festival to be at this spring

Stratford Live is the home of live music from locals and touring bands alike.

What started in 2009 as the Stratford Ribs and Blues Festival, and became what is now known the Stratford Live Music and Food Festival, will bring yet again a fantastic lineup of musicians and varied food offerings to the delight of locals and visitors alike.

This family friendly festival will encompass two days this year, Friday June 19 and Saturday June 20, offering something for almost every taste from roots/americana, to blues, to folk, to rock and more. There will be local artists, Juno award-winning Canadian artists and emerging youth artists.

The mandate of the festival has always been to promote local and emerging artists, and musicians that work hard to put themselves out there in front of fans to share their music and keep the touring live music industry alive.

“We want to support the locals, that has always been a goal. The touring musicians on Friday night are people that have a couple of Juno Awards, like MonkeyJunk; the singer Steve (Marriner) just won a Juno two months ago,” said organizer Stevie Toman.

Stratford Live Music and Food is a non-profit organization intent on promoting live music and providing a venue to introduce live music to all generations.

“This is something to support the community and we want young people to enjoy it to. We want it to be family friendly, that’s always been part of the deal,” said Toman.

Many families in other cities have raised their children going to local music festivals and Live Music and Food offers the same opportunity as an accessible event. It is teaching the next generation to appreciate live music and to seek it out.

The committee of 2022 created the Stew Laing Fund. The money collected, by donation, helps to support new and emerging local talent with the opportunity to perform live at the festival in front of an audience.

“Stew was an educator, he was a principal in Stratford, always believed in getting youth involved and giving young people a stage to perform on. He had a great impact on the festival,” Toman said.

This year, there are two youth acts. Opening on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. will be Supernaut followed by the teen sensation, singer/songwriter Nora Joy.

Of course, Live Music and Food is a food festival as much as a music festival. There will be great and varied options for food, encouraging people to try something that may be new to them or stick to familiar favourites like ribs, pulled pork, tacos, sausages or hotdogs and a water filling station located at the Boathouse.

“Over the years we’ve tried to have a good variety of food, different flavours and cuisines. There’s the taco truck and Chris’s Big BBQ, for example, but we really try to have many other flavours. There might be something there that people haven’t tried before so that’s part of the experience too,” said Toman.

Returning are street vendors as well as a face painting station and special guests to capture the imagination of children.

For a full lineup of scheduled acts, visit the website www.stratfordlive.ca/2026 where tickets can be purchased in advance. Tickets are also available at the door.