Crowfest is making a return for a third year and soon buskers and people dressed in Crow-theme costumes will take over downtown Chatham.
Crowfest is making a return for a third year and soon buskers and people dressed in Crow-theme costumes will take over downtown Chatham.
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On Tuesday, organizers revealed details of this year’s event, which takes place Sept. 18 to 21.
The world-class buskers are a big attraction and new this year are performances by the Catwall Acrobats from Quebec, featuring four performers on trampolines.
“These guys are fabulous,” said Andrew Thiel, a co-chair of Crowfest. “They’ve performed in over 30 countries and are one of the leading acrobatic acts in Canada.”
The Catwall Acrobats are among the line-up of buskers that will be performing during Crowfest along King Street in downtown Chatham on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21.
“These are world-class buskers who are coming from all over North America,” Thiel said.
Another big attraction is the costume contest on Sept. 21 from 1 pm to 4 pm, which offers more than $5,000 in prizes.
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The detail and effort that goes into the impressive Crow-themed costumes has prompted contest organizer Linda Clement to bring in a team of seasoned costume builders to be judges.
There is also an open category.
Clement said local residents, especially children, are encouraged to take part.
“We love seeing the children’s costumes,” she said.
When it comes to creating a costume, Clement said, “You can go to the hardware store and find all kinds of things that you can use for something else.
“I love when there’s imagination,” she said. “That’s what I look at when I’m judging these people.”
The deadline to register is Friday at 11:59 pm To register go online to www.crowfestck.com.
Crowfest has added C-K’s Got Talent to this year’s line-up to give local bands a chance to win some cash prizes.
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Thiel said the talent show, being held Sept. 18 at the Garden on King and River Rock Night Club, is replacing Duelling Pianos.
“We wanted to try something a little bit different, so it was a homegrown idea from a committee member to focus on what talent CK has to offer,” he said.
The winning band gets $1,000 and will be the opening act for the Busk After Dusk event at the Sons of Kent Brewery on Sept. 21 that wraps up Crowfest.
Another addition to Crowfest is ARTlive, being done in partnership with ARTSpace to organize a Brush Off live painting competition open to local artists. The competition takes place on King Street on Sept. 21 from 3 pm to 6 pm There will be eight $250 cash prizes awarded based on popular votes, said organizers.
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St. Clair College has been the presenting sponsor for Crowfest since it began.
“One of the things is the uniqueness of it,” said John Fairley, vice president of college communications and community relations.
He added the event has so many layers that St. Clair students and alumni from Chatham and Windsor, along with the community, can enjoy.
“It’s got the whole package in a couple of days,” Fairley said.
“St. Clair College is proud to be the community college,” he said. “We look for opportunities like this and other things that we’ve done in this community to be a full-fledged partner with so many organizations.”
Crowfest has moved to September from mid-October and Thiel said, “It 100 per cent has to do with the weather.”
He said the first two years saw either rain or cold temperatures, but the crowds came out in big numbers when the sun was shining.
“We’re really hoping for a little bit warmer and a little bit drier,” Thiel said. “If we can just have this one weekend where the weather is nice, I guarantee we’ll have 25,000 to 50,000 people out on Friday and Saturday.”
Full details about Crowfest can be found at www.crowfestck.com.
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