Niagara Jazz Fest wins top award
The TD Niagara Jazz Festival is dancing in the streets after snatching a major award.
The four-year-old event held primarily in Niagara-on-the-Lake won for best new festival or event (budgeted between $100,000 and $500,000) at the Festivals and Events Ontario Achievement Awards held Friday in Sault Ste. Marie.
The awards recognize festivals and events of all variety and sizes throughout the province.
Festivals one to three years old qualify for the award earned by the jazz festival.
“We are bursting with pride to see our festival blossom in the heart of Niagara,” said musician Peter Shea, who co-founded the festival with wife Juliet Dunn in 2013. “This award means more to us than anyone could ever imagine.”
The festival’s first year saw about 3,000 people attend over three days at wineries, parks and other Niagara-on-the-Lake venues. Last year, attendance rose to 10,000 people, with events expanding to St. Catharines and Vineland.
It now runs a Twilight Jazz Series throughout the year in downtown St. Catharines, and has partnered with other Niagara events including In the Soil, The Foster Festival and the Niagara Integrated Film Festival.
Dunn, a longtime Niagara jazz singer, says she was surprised by people’s reaction when she first mentioned starting a jazz fest — they seemed to be negative. It was only later she realized why they said it: It’s a massive amount of work.
“I’d probably say the same thing to anyone thinking of running a festival,” she says. “It’s pretty insane.
“This is by far the most challenging thing I have ever done in my life.”
She credits the “hundreds” of jazz artists and volunteers who helped make it one of the top jazz festivals in the province in such short time.
The 2017 festival runs July 28 to 30 with several new features to coincide with the Canada 150 celebration. Tickets are available at www.niagarajazzfestival.com.