It’s been nearly 365 days in the planning, but this year’s Kempenfest along Barrie's waterfront is now mere hours away from welcoming visitors for the 52nd year.
Planning for this year's event started about three weeks after last year's event, event chair Bob Stones said on Wednesday.
“It's a year-long process. We will be meeting from August of this summer to the event next summer. There's a lot of work done behind the scenes to establish everything and get it all set up,” he said.
In addition to the always-popular arts and crafts exhibitors — which this year will feature nearly 300 jury-selected artisans and the annual antique show — the weekend will include a Kids' Village, a midway and four nights of live music.
“We've got what we think are some good acts lined up. Down with Webster is on Friday, Matthew Good and his band is on Saturday, Tyler Joe Miller on Sunday and The Carpet Frogs are Monday," Stones said. "So we're looking forward to that (and) ticket sales are going well for all of them."
New this year is the Poutine Village, which will include approximately 12 vendors who will each be putting “their own little spin” on the popular Quebecois dish, Stones said.
Visitors can expect some changes to how the four-day event, which kicks off Friday, Aug. 2 and runs until Monday, Aug. 5.
“We’ve separated the Kids' Village from the midway so that we can do better programming for the kids,” he said, adding the second stage (known as the family stage) has also been moved to a “better spot with better access.”
As for the rest of the popular long-weekend event, it will stay pretty much the same.
“It's sort of a tried and true recipe, so we're sticking with what worked and as we've said for the last little while we're trying to make it better, not bigger,” Stones said.
“We have faced some challenges in the last couple of years," he added. "After COVID, (it) was kind of rough for all festivals and events to come back, but (for) the last two years we've had fairly successful years. We've learned a lot after COVID about some of the things we may have to change and revise.”
Although attendance has varied over the years, Stones said the event has consistently drawn large crowds.
“It's huge that people are coming back to the event,” he admitted.
One of the things they will be doing this year is tracking attendance.
“We're working with the city and we're working with Tourism Barrie to get a more accurate attendance data," Stones said. "We want to get a better handle on how many people are actually down here, because the estimates range from 100,000 to 150,000 and I think one year before COVID it was somebody reported (as being) over 200,000.”
To do that, festival organizers, with help from the city and Tourism Barrie, will be conducting on-site surveys as well as utilizing technology.
“They can use the cell towers down here now to bounce off of people's phones and figure out what the postal code is and where they're coming from,” Stones said. “We're hoping to get a more accurate average per person spending, too, because all of that goes into the economic impact for not just Kempenfest but for the city itself for tourism.”
Whether it’s for the arts and crafts, the rides or the cotton candy, the event is all about people enjoying themselves, he added.
“We want it to be fun for people. There's lots to see (and) lots to do. I've heard from a lot of people it's kind of like a tradition that they come home for the weekend and they go to Kempenfest,” he said. “It’s a bit of a homecoming event and it's also a chance to celebrate our waterfront and the city.”
There is no fee to enter Kempenfest and shop the arts and crafts and antique exhibitors. Evening concerts and Monday afternoon’s Main Stage shows are ticketed events, however both the Saturday and Sunday afternoon shows on the OLG Main Stage are free.
