Westfest is a free festival in Ottawa, Ontario, that takes place every year during the second weekend of June and is billed as a three day celebration of Canadian art and culture. The festival takes place in Ottawa’s Westboro Village and features a variety of artistic disciplines, including music, contemporary dance, visual art, media art, performance art, spoken word, poetry and fiction readings, Aboriginal art forms, children’s entertainment. At one end of this street enclosure is the Domicile main stage, where the festival's music acts perform. Past headliners have included Buffy Saint-Marie, Sloan, Joel Plaskett, Jane Siberry, Cowboy Junkies, Kathleen Edwards among others.
Westfest will take place in 2011 on June 10, 11, and 12 and will feature performances by Lucie Idlout, Bif Naked, and the Mighty Popo. This year, the Westfest main stage will be behind the Real Canadian Superstore parking lot, a move that will quadruple the audience area.[1]
Westfest’s programming is 100% Canadian and 100% accessible; and since the beginning, admission to Westfest has been free to anyone wishing to attend. Westfest is also 100% inclusive and participating artists have come from all over Canada; from every province and territory, including Nunavut.[2]
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Founder, Producer, and Artistic Director Elaina Martin began Westfest in 2004 and in its first year the festival was a one day, three block, event that featured twelve hours of programming. The inaugural Westfest was a huge success. Headlined by Jane Siberry, the festival had more than 20,000 people in attendance throughout the day, and 5,000 at the main stage concert alone. One year later, in 2005, Westfest became a two day festival. In 2006, Westfest was incorporated as a national not for profit organization and by 2007, became a three day festival with extensive programming. In 2008, Westfest celebrated its fifth year anniversary with a five day event and more than 100 hours of programming, drawing in record breaking crowds, exceeding 100,000 people, to the festival’s grounds.