Ellice Street Festival

Celebrating the West End

Matt Duboff

The Ellice Street Festival is all about celebrating the West End, and this year organizers are building on that goal. 

“There’s a lot of people that kind of look at the West End a certain way,” one of the festival organizers Kerri Stephens says. 

“It’s a celebration to kind of give back to the community that we’re involved in and the community that we do our work in,” Stephens says. 

Stephens, from the West End Cultural Centre (WECC), says about 10 community organizations are involved in putting the June 10 to 11 event together. 

Those groups have booths to let attendees know more about what they do. The festival also brings in free music, crafts and a bouncy castle, Stephens says. 

For the first time, local artisans will be able to rent tables to sell their wares at the market, giving people further opportunities to learn more about those in the West End. 

There is also going to be a food market. 

“We felt like providing people with the option to provide some fresh food,” Stephens says. 

The Daniel McIntyre St. Matthews Community Association – which runs a fresh food market in the summer – will be making that new festival feature happen. 

For the 17th annual festival, Stephens says they’ve also changed the free Friday night concert event a little. 

The Bart House Band will be playing at the WECC where square dancing lessons will be taught, and then the band will take their music to the streets on Saturday. 

“People that came out and learned are able to dance on the street if they want,” Stephens says. 

With dancing, crafts, food, music and more, the West End will be showing off and celebrating its personality. 

Published in Volume 70, Number 27 of The Uniter (June 2, 2016)

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