REGINA — Regina’s newest folk festival is hitting downtown this Saturday.
The Exchange Folk Festival begins at noon with 13 performances throughout the day.
The performers include:
- Shannon Elizabeth: (12:00 p.m.);
- Black Thunder: (12:45 p.m.);
- Ron Loos Experience: (1:30 p.m.);
- Zoe James and the Wistful Daydreams: (2:15 p.m.);
- Hard Feelings: (3:00 p.m.);
- Andino Suns: (3:45 p.m.);
- Black Tea: (4:35 p.m.);
- The North Sound: (5:25 p.m.);
- Kara Golemba: (6:05 p.m.);
- Indigo Joseph: (6:30 p.m.);
- The Sadies: (7:30 p.m.);
- The Besnard Lakes: (8:50 p.m.);
- Foxwarren: (10:15 p.m).
A good portion of the lineup features artists from Regina and Saskatchewan, including Regina-based Indigo Joseph, Andino Suns, Zoe James and Black Thunder, along with Saskatchewan acts The North Sound and the Ron Loos Band.
“Most of these bands that appear on the list have played The Exchange multiple times, and we do everything that we can to promote local bands, local music; we think it's really important,” said John Kennedy, executive director of The Exchange, in a previous interview.
The festival will also feature performances by the Kawacatoose Boyz Singers & Dance Troupe, Listen to Dis' Performers and Shivanshi Ghosh.
“We wanted to do some kind of tweener entertainment in between, and we wanted it to be significant and culturally significant to our community,” Kennedy said.
The event is intended to help fill the void left after the Regina Folk Festival permanently shut down in 2024 because of financial challenges.
While this year's festival is free to attend, organizers say future editions could become ticketed to help bring larger touring acts to Regina.
“The community wants more touring acts that they've heard of; the bigger the name, the better, and so that's going to require a ticketed event,” Kennedy said.
