HomeMusicKingston artists on display at Back to the Farm

Kingston artists on display at Back to the Farm

The local brewery Mackinnon Brothers’ brought their popular Back to the Farm festival to Bath for the seventh iteration – looking to return the festival to an annual summer tradition after a one year pause due to COVID in 2020.

While Back to the Farm returned last year, artistic director Chris Morris said organizers had a lot more clarity and freedom this time around while planning the festival, as well as certain bands being available that weren’t in 2021.

This year the festival was headlined by The Strumbellas and Born Ruffians, with the latter being a late fill in for The Sadies in the days leading up to lineup announcement.

The rest of the festival is made up of local artists, this year bringing a lineup of Miss Emily, Rocket Surgery, The Gertrudes, Tiny Horse, Kakaow, The Apricots, Julia Finnegan, and The Reds.

Morris says there is a wide pool of good artists in Kingston, and they try to use the festival to give stage time to a variety of them.

“There’s tons of great bands in Kingston and we try not to repeat ourselves not only for the sake of keeping it fresh but also to be able to offer the stage to more people,” Morris said.

“We have the opportunity to offer the stage to as many bands as possible so we try to do that.”

Julia Finnegan was one artist making her debut on Sunday, and said as a festival goer in the past she was honoured to be able to be a performer this time.

She said it’s especially nice to see an event like this after so long away from them.

“It’s really refreshing to see everybody really enjoying the day especially when we’ve been through kind of dark days,” Finnegan said.

“These are really special moments.”

Ricky Brant (Kakaow), also made his Back to the Farm debut a day after playing in Owen Sound at Sonic Springs.

Kakaow’s electronic music was a significantly different style than most of the rest of the day’s performers, but Brant said he was happy to see the crowd taking to everyone positively.

“The crowd is really receptive to all the artists up there,” Brant said.

“People are showing a lot of love… there’s a vibe and an energy here and it’s very palpable.”

The festival sold out with 5000 ticket sales.

Owen Fullerton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Owen Fullerton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporterhttp://ygknews.ca
Born and raised in Whitby, Ontario, Owen has been living in Kingston for about three years after starting the band Willy Nilly. Prior to that he worked at CKLB radio in Yellowknife and completed studies in Niagara College's Broadcasting program.

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