HAVE A CUP OF JOE WITH JOE – Kingsville’s Greenway Jam Music Festival
Like the title of the 1964 hit country song King of the Road (Roger Miller), the Town of Kingsville is ready to once again to be the “king of the road” with the Greenway Jam Music Festival.
Taking place August 11 to 13 at the cozy Mettawas Park, 103 Park Street, the festival is presented by the Kingsville Music Society (KMS).
This is an Ontario-registered non-profit organization dedicated to presenting non-alienating, world-class celebrations of the musical arts. They create productions that engage audiences with diverse programming, stimulate arts education, foster economic growth, and unite artists and audiences in Kingsville. The organization strives to be clean and green at all events.
KMS is celebrating 10 years of music, and headliners for the 2023 festival are: The Paul Langlois Band, the guitarist and songwriter from Canada’s iconic band, The Tragically Hip; Country and Western Rockers The Sadies; East Coast favourite and multi-award winner Joel Plaskett; and Afro-Cuban World Music Juno winners OKAN.
Returning for another appearance is the legendary Canadian folk singer, Valdy and the line-up also features the bands Reggaddiction, Union Duke, The Accidentals and more.
Big name performers from prior years include such notables as Bruce Cockburn, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cowboy Junkies, Jimmy Rankin and Natalie MacMaster.
So how did this event come to be?
It traces back to husband and wife team John (from Chatham) and Michele Law (from Kingston) who had a 17 year touring career as song writers and performers with stops in Australia, Nashville, Texas, Florida, and other worldwide locations.
The Laws have been called the best duo out of Canada since Ian and Sylvia. During their career they have released six CDs.
They eventually settled in southwestern Ontario and started this festival in 2014. They were assisted by Canada’ s foremost folk music businessman, Mitch Podolak, the architect of major folk festivals across Canada.
The festival started out in Kingsville’s expansive Lakeside Park. Last year, emerging from the pandemic years, was a transitional year as they attempted a multi-venue approach, spreading the entertainment to several various locations in town.
With its pluses and minuses, they decided for their 10th anniversary to return to a single site location that would be smaller, more intimate and easier to manage — the newly emerging Mettawas Park. (For history buffs, this is the property where Hiram Walker built the grand resort The Mettawas Hotel, which opened in 1889.)
As the Laws explain: “This park has not really been fully developed yet and we are trying to develop it as an arts’ and culture park. Festival patrons will sit on a grassy slope in an amphitheatre style setting with the main stage at the bottom and a beautiful view of Lake Erie behind it.”
“It is also the site of the new Grovedale Arts & Culture Centre, which we will use Saturday for some of the performances,” adds John.
The Laws also point out: “Parking availability will be vastly improved at Mettawas Park compared to the more limited parking spaces they had at Lakeside Park.”
For a major music festival like this, the KMS relies on volunteer help to assist their five member volunteer board of directors.
Though they currently have a mailing list of about 500 members — about 200 volunteers are active — and about 140 will be needed for the three day event.
In the festival’s initial years, the Laws performed on stage with their renowned near-perfect harmony vocals, but as Michele reflects: “It’s difficult to change your hat from performer to coordinator. One day we were getting ready to go on stage and just stared at each other trying to remember the words of a song. So, we decided to just coordinate, which reduced the stress for us.”
Previously called the Kingsville Folk Festival, there was a change to the current name The Greenway Jam Music Festival because John had a dream of lining up numerous stages along the 45 km Chrysler Canada Greenway.
They dabbled with it last year using their multi-venue location approach, but as John tells us: “Sometimes I dream too big and we soon realized it was a very expensive venture that could not be sustained.”
However, since it seemed like a cool name, they retained it even though the entire festival this year is at Mettawas Park.
On site there will be a General Store where patrons can purchase festival t-shirts, merchandise and music from the performers; an Artisan Vendor Village; food vendors and food trucks; and a licensed bar.
Festival goers are encouraged to bring a blanket or chair to plop themselves down on for the night and take in the music from the main stage.
On Saturday admission is free from noon to 5 p.m., with two stages set up for concerts and workshops (a third stage is ticketed). In addition there are free yoga classes, a drumming circle and a Farmers’ Market.
KMS also awards $2,000 scholarship funds each year for high school graduates entering post-secondary arts-based programs. This year two recipients will receive their awards on the Saturday night (August 12), on stage.
For a complete listing of directions to the venue, ticket prices (weekend passport and daily tickets), daily schedules, and performers, please visit online.
