A zipline down Richmond Road will be one of the feature attractions in June when a new operator stages a festival to replace the popular Westfest.
The new, yet-to-be-named event will be held June 10-12. It is the weekend after the new version of Westfest, which has moved Mechanicsville’s Laroche Park after 12 years in Westboro. Westfest moved after the Westboro Village BIA opted out of the second year of a sponsorship deal it had signed with the festival.
Westboro Village BIA executive director Mary Thorne said Aboriginal Experiences, the non-profit group behind the annual Summer Solstice festival, was chosen from a shortlist of three operating proposals because they captured the essence of what Westboro Village represents.
“Aboriginal Experiences Arts and Culture nailed it,” said Thorne, who calls the event an “‘urban outdoor lifestyle festival.”
“It speaks to what Westboro is all about: active living, healthy, dynamic, outdoor, hip, all of those things are what we are.”
Book-ended between Island Park Drive and Golden Avenue, the festival will be one day longer than Westfest, and will include the zipline, an enlarged kid zone, President’s Choice SuperDogs dog show, fashion show to showcase the area boutiques, outdoor yoga, kayak and paddle board demos, to name a few.
The mainstays will remain, including buskers and culinary tables, as well as the featured main and satellite stages for musical acts that are yet to be announced.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to rebuild what I think is a really solid team of people from our Aboriginal community that have built a lot of skills in producing a festival of that scale, and we thought what a great way to explore new cultures and programming,” said Trina Mather-Simard, president and general manager of Aboriginal Experiences.
Organizers say the new festival is expected to cost $100,000, down $25,000 from last year’s Westfest.
