Stratford Summer Music’s season was filled with many highs.
The 25th season, a four-week series of shows and performances throughout Stratford, ended Sunday.
The grand finale – Summer’s Last Sound, was an outdoor concert that saw the Ingersoll Piper Band and Shuffle Demons perform at the Boathouse.
Artistic Director Mark Fewer says one of the great things about being a music festival director is being able to “look back at your personal history and say what did I really enjoy as a kid?”
“The Shuffle Demons finished our 25th season because when I was a kid, they lit a fire in me of just the pure joy of being able to be in front of a crowd and do crazy, funky stuff that would leave people with a smile,” said Fewer.
“The Ingersolls are celebrating 115 years of operation, and the Shuffle Demons had their 40th anniversary so we had three big anniversaries on Sunday.”
Fewer says along with that finale, other season highlights included the Carmina Burana from opening night, the Stratford Summer Music Jazz All-Stars at the Revival, and Al Simmons.
He couldn’t believe that they managed to get Simmons perform this season.
“I couldn’t stop laughing, smiling, or crying from joy that whole show,” said Fewer.
“He had a device on stage that was prompting queues through speakers and it went dead because it overheated in the sun and somehow he miraculously pivoted himself and kept the kids entertained while his tech was booted back up.”
He adds since joining the organization ‘7-8 years ago’, organizers have seen an uptick in public support from Stratford and an uptick through a wider area from places outside southwestern Ontario like Toronto, parts of the U.S., Ottawa region, Montreal, London, and Kitchener-Waterloo.
Organizers hope to continue expanding that reach within the next 25 years.
