The ground was sun-drenched at Port Credit Memorial Park in Mississauga. A carnival with jugglers, balloon artists, stilt walkers, strolling characters, face painters, clowns, foods of the world, kids events, music bands, and sixty assorted vendors and crafters opened up the 15th annual Mississauga Waterfront Festival. The festival took place from June 17 -19, 2011, over Fathers’ day weekend.une 17-19, 2011, Port Credit Memorial Park in Mississauga
Savia D’cunha, alex.canadianspecialevents.com OnSite Reporter
The main target audience was families and concert fans. Great Canadian Dad contest winners read “Why My Dad Is Great” letters. EcoMedia, Canada’s environment friendly media company, set up recycling bins throughout the park. Earth Rangers, an organization dedicated to saving habitat around the world, had a meet and greet with live animals. The Discovery Patch Children’s Interactive Musuem had 15 different stations promoting the use of recycled products. The children also had a petting zoo, pony rides, and water bubble rides where the children entered a giant water bubble.
The Canadian bands playing at the festival were The Sprit Of The West, A Foot In ColdWater, Goddo, and solo artists such as Steve Page from the Bare Naked Ladies and Brian Howe, the former lead singer of Bad Company. The international bands consisted of a British band called the Truffles. Beatle fans were treated to a Beatles experience with memorabilia and Sergeant Pepper costumes.
Chairperson, Pat Anderson and a team of 16 people organized the event in twelve months. There were 200 volunteers and a turnout of 50,000 people on the weekend. The pricing for the festival’s 15th anniversary was attractive and dropped down from $25 the previous year to $15 this year for adults and $10 for children and seniors. There were 75 sponsors with Platinum Plus sponsors being the main ones.
The Event Manager/Artist, Patti Jannetta Baker, has been in the entertainment industry for twenty-five years and is a performer, songwriter, and Juno nominee.
Out of 3,000 festivals in Ontario, Festival and Events Ontario has awarded The Mississauga Waterfront Festival with the best media, marketing and promotional campaign for nine years in a row.
MetalWorks Production Group put the staging, lighting, audio, main stage, and auxiliary set-up together.