There may not be outdoor Hillside Festival this summer, but organizers have put together a free virtual line up to ensure local music lovers can still have a happy Hillside.
Hillside Homeside is the name of this years online concert series, planned for July 24 to 26. In April the outdoor Hillside Festival, which was scheduled to run the same July weekend, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are bringing you a truly immersive Hillside experience via your wi-fi, data plans, and dial-up modems from 1997,” said a news release from Hillside organizers.
Over the festival weekend, videos by a wide range of musical artists will be posted to the Hillside Homeside web site. At least 32 musical artists have been confirmed so far, with a complete list available here.
Confirmed so far are Buffy Sainte-Marie, The Kramdens, Splash N' Boots, Donovan Woods, Andrew Craig and Haviah Mighty, among others.
Sainte-Marie has performed at Hillside before but this year has submitted a performance from her back yard.
Like at the traditional Hillside Festival, the musical performers are geared toward a wide range of audiences, from adults, teens, senior citizens and children.
The Sun Stage also goes virtual, with a line up of 16 writers, comedians, spoken word artists, and dramatists slated to perform.
Food vendors are a favourite at many music festivals and virtual festival goers will be able to watch videos on how to make their favourite Hillside food, as well as activities like pickling, felting, Qigong and hula hooping.
Recipes will include lobster rolls, Tex Mex beans and ChocoSol's famous iced drinking chocolate.
Interactive workshops will be offered for cooking and drum & dance, among other topics.
In the release, Hillside Organizers said all of the video content will only be accessible for the festival weekend.
“After that, they will be taken off the internet, gathered in a knapsack, and hurtled directly into the heart of the sun,” said the release.
