THUNDER BAY – The Bay and Algoma area drew in thousands of people this past weekend to enjoy the music, food and entertainment featured at the 9th Annual Buskers festival
Organizers say the event is bigger and better than previous years, as it features around 30 performers and 60 businesses and vendors over the weekend.
Brian Hamilton, site co-ordinator, said they started the Buskers Festival back in 2011.
“It's just like magic and points of interest literally everywhere you turn. Part of the reason why we did this initially back in 2011 was to showcase Thunder Bay's great arts and culture scene.
“Not that it wasn't represented, but we thought it could be more amplified a little bit. We did that and we continued and the arts and culture scene really supported us,” he said.
One of the things that Buskers Festival organizers always do is treat their performers well, Hamilton said.
“We have a green room, we have a VIP tent, for our craft vendors we have a very affordable rate – maybe some of the most affordable rates in the city.
“To that end, people pour in and it really creates an incredible landscape for the attendees to come in and enjoy, we really want people to stay for hours and hours."
There are ton of different organizations from the Thunder Bay Museum to Our Kids Count, Hamilton said.
“I think this year we have about 60 organizations. That's in addition to the shops and the boutiques and the cafes that line the streets currently.”
The Buskers Festival has a full line of activities for everybody, kids and people of all ages, he said.
Hamilton said seeing the turnout is a really great feeling and that they saw an estimated four to six thousand people this weekend.
Egemen Ustun, also known as the Firebreather, was one of the performers visitors were able to watch. His grand finale was breathing fire while riding around on a seven-foot unicycle.
“I've been to multiple Busker festivals, but I've never been to the one in Thunder Bay and it's been great here so far.
“I feel fantastic. Everybody here is so nice and the energy is great. I've been here for a few days exploring the town as well and Thunder Bay has just been so great to me and I feel fantastic. You know, I'm excited for my last show of the day,” he said.
When Ustun was a child, he always watched circus artists and street performers and he thought he would love to do it one day.
“And then I was 15 years old and I was like, you know, I have some of the skills, I want to try it out. 10 years later, I'm 25 now and I've been doing it full time for the past decade and I've done over 1,000 shows in the past decade.
Uriel Lubuk, festival organizer, said this weekend went very well.
“There's been a lot of smiling people even for how the heat has been,” he said.
Lubuk said they focused on getting out-of-town talent this year as well as more activities for the kids.
“We wanted to show Thunder Bay something that they don't normally see.
“You're seeing somebody climb a 20 ft pole in the middle of the street and interacting with the crowd and doing comedy. It's just awesome.”
Plans for next years Buskers Festival are already in the works, and we may see an evening component, Lubuk said.
