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Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival sees record attendance, brings variety of acts to downtown core

June 8, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Building off last year’s success, the 19th Annual Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival returned to the downtown core from June 2-4 with record-breaking attendance.

Over 75 acts touched down in Orangeville, bringing their signature sounds to three stages over three days.

Blues and Jazz Festival President Josh Leitch said as organizers were planning for this year’s event, they were curious to know if there’d be the same level of attendance as last year when the festival returned for the first time since 2019 and reached new heights.

“We once again [were] unsure if we could expect a similar level of attendance due to the post-covid enthusiasm for the return of public events in 2022,” said Leitch. “We are thrilled to report that preliminary results indicate not only did we meet our budgeted attendance goals this year, but we will surpass our record-breaking 2022 attendance over the entire three days with this year’s festival.”

Broadway was home to several special events, such as the Friday Night Blues Cruise, Saturday Downtown Ramble and Sunday Blues & Bikes.

Larry Kurtz, the festival’s founder, took care of the lineup, which Leitch said came together perfectly. The Shuffle Demons were a big hit on Saturday, leading the New Orleans-style Jazz March and performing on the TD Broadway Stage. 

“Larry Kurtz, once again, did his magic with the programming,” Leitch enthused.

He shared, “All the many facets of the festival came together beautifully – the incredible lineup of artists and performances was outstanding.”

Leitch told the Citizen he’s thrilled with the tremendous level of “community engagement” and “spirit of celebration” that permeated this year’s festival.

Looking ahead to 2024, for the 20th presentation of the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival, Leitch said it will be bigger and better than ever while maintaining all of the features that attendees have come to enjoy.


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