Daily Archives: February 28, 2015

Kick Off June With A Night Of Blues, Food, And Culture

While downtown can boast a majority of music festivals and larger events in Hamilton, this weekend the quaint area of Westdale Village will host the first annual Hamilton Blues and Roots Music Festival. Presented by Sonic Unyon (among other sponsors), the festival will bring together local and travelling blues musicians to Westdale’s main hub for a warm evening of smooth tunes and great times. I for one am extremely excited that a festival so true to the spirit of the cultural transformation of Hamilton is happening down the street from my apartment!

Performances will be happening all day, so either stopping in for a few hours or spending the whole day in Westdale will be worthwhile. The festival will close down normal operation of the retail stores in Westdale for the day, so look forward to street performers, food and craft vendors, a beer garden, and a family movie event in the evening. Expect the event to have a similar vibe to the Supercrawl Festival that happens along James Street North in September— Sonic Unyon is the brains behind both events. Bring a group of friends, your family, or your favourite gal (or guy!)

The Hamilton Blues and Roots Festival is Saturday, June 1st with performances running form 10:00 am-11:00 pm. Look forward to performances by great local talents including Steve Strongman (headlining at 9:00pm), Terra Lightfoot, and Harrison Kennedy.

Westdale Village is in the west end of Hamilton, near McMaster University:

From downtown, King St. East will bring you right to the centre of the village. The HSR also has a few routes that will drop you off near the festival: the 01, 5C, 5E, 10, and 52 will all place you within 5 minutes of Westdale—note, however that those routs running directly through Westdale will probably diverge if the festival requires roadblocks.

If you are coming from up on the mountain you can take the Linc(oln Alexander Parkway) down if driving or catch a bus to the downtown GO centre and transfer.