The Moose n’ Fiddle Music Festival is coming to the Township of Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls at the end of the month. The festival gathers musicians, artisans, and tasty street eats along the beautiful Caliper Lake Provincial Park.
The first day of the festival, on August 25, starts at 5 p.m. along the water’s edge under a canopy of tall pines and kicks off with a powerhouse of female performers — Sierra Noble, Little Miss Higgins and Belle Plaine.
Reminiscent of how musicians and the audience will pick up a guitar and start to sing and dance, often in a kitchen at a good party, the next day begins at 2 p.m. on Aug. 26 with a “kitchen party.”
“We have a number of musical acts that come together for a 90 minute set. And they jam live on stage. They'll play cover songs, they will play some of their original tunes, but they do it together. So they work out the chords that they'll play and it is really a crowd favorite,” said Denise Lysak, curator for Moose n’ Fiddle Music Festival.
Afterward, the festival continues with performances from local group Siouxperboat & Friends, followed by musical sets from Low Lilly, Amanda Rheaume, and The Slocan Ramblers.
About 80 per cent of this year’s performers are new to the Moose n’ Fiddle Musical Festival.
Lysak says curating the festival line up is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
“We're a family friendly festival. We are set in the great outdoors, you know, in what is quintessentially the Canadian Shield. So here we are in nature's perfect beauty with the rocks and the lakes and the big tall trees. And to even match that with something like music and other things that we wrapped around the festival can be pretty daunting, but it's also a lot of fun,” she said.
Lysak says she scouts for diverse genres and performers that can compliment each other and has been lucky to receive help from industry giants who have put together the Winnipeg Folk Festival or smaller music festivals nearby.
This year’s event in particular will be a telling year after not having the Moose n’ Fiddle Musical Festival for three summers.
Explaining the cause of the three-year hiatus, Lysak says COVID-19 took a “wrecking ball” to the live entertainment industry.
Once restrictions eased up, festival organizers had hoped to host a 2022 festival but a windstorm came through Caliper Lake, causing damage to trees and power lines, which shut down the festival only five weeks before the event.
“Will people come back? Will the behavior and the patterns that we had certainly noticed in 2017, 2018 and 2019—will they continue? Or will we be at a sort of a different starting point all over again. So we're gonna find out next weekend on August 25 and 26th,” Lysak said.
The Township of Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls hosted its first festival around 2015. It originated from a desire to spur on new tourism into the late summer while engaging with local businesses.
Formed by two small communities that lay claim to the idea that “bigger isn’t always better,” the township saw that many tourists came to the area to enjoy fishing and hunting and that families traveled in different ways. Seasonal residents could be an economic driver if they stayed for a bit longer and engaged with local retail shops, lodges, outposts or other small businesses.
“Those were some of the goals of the mayor and council. And they really put their dedication behind it, both with money and with human resources,” Lysak said.
Moose n’ Fiddle Music Festival became a quick success. While the audience was small in the first couple years, by around 2017 when Ontario parks would open reservations for camping, all 82 campsites at the park were sold out for the weeks surrounding the festival within 4 to 6 hours.
During the festival weekend, local businesses saw an uptick in customers coming from all across the district such as Kenora, Fort Frances, Rainy River, and even neighbouring provinces in Manitoba and from down south by the border.
“Places for accommodations were experiencing that they were selling out for that weekend. So we knew that we were definitely increasing visitation. And we also knew that people were enjoying the festival because they were coming back year after year,” Lysak said.
While this year’s presales are strong, Lysak hopes to see more walk-up sales on Friday and Saturday.
She says she is excited to have Lake of the Woods Brewing Company from Kenora, Ontario, back as a sponsor. She is also grateful for private donors who have helped with the transitional year and ensuring that the festival can meet financial obligations.
Lysak says she is also excited about food provided by Black Oven Pizza Truck and a new joint from Fort Frances called Talk On the Street Eatery serving burgers, poutine, falafels and woodfire pizza.
“So much of this festival is made possible because of the park staff at Caliper Lake Provincial Park, also because of the leadership team at the township, and then countless volunteers who give up their time and have their expertise and their knowledge, whether that's our emcees or our photographer, or people that help run the box office or the artisans village—all of that is supported with volunteers and staff from the township,” she said.
People should come prepared for outdoor weather and bring cash if purchasing tickets at the box office, Lysak says.
“First and foremost, the festival is about the artists and the audience. One can't happen without the other. And I feel really lucky to be in a place where I can try to bring those two together. And to do it with strong hands and willing hearts of so many other people. It's just a fun weekend when you try to create memories, and that lasts a lifetime, and experiences that are intergenerational, and outdoor summer music festivals are really a way to do that.”
Pricing information and more information about the festival can be found online at moosenfiddle.ca
Fort Frances Times/Local Journalism Initiative
