'A new beginning': Sunfest returned, and so did near-record crowds
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Sunfest founder Alfredo Caxaj expressed joy and optimism Sunday over the international music festival’s return this weekend to Victoria Park for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic – drawing huge crowds that suggest “a new beginning” looms for the London institution.
“It’s been very emotional, especially when you see the whole community coming together to celebrate,” he said. “It’s almost like all of us were dying for this to happen again.”
By his estimation, the four-day event that wrapped up Sunday attracted more than 100,000 unique visitors to Victoria Park. When counting repeat visitors, the crowds over the weekend easily exceed 200,000, Caxaj said.
“It’s been almost like a record of attendance this year,” he said. “On Saturday, we experienced one of the largest Saturdays ever in our history.”
Mother Nature certainly helped, bringing a weekend to the London region that was full of sunshine and blue skies and daytime temperatures that hovered around 25 C.
Among those returning to the summer festival this year was Londoner Kaitlin Loebach, who went with her husband and two kids all four days.
“This is surreal,” she said. “My family, we grew up coming to Sunfest since it began basically and both my kids were born during the pandemic, so it was kind of a dream come true to bring my own family now. We are just soaking it all in.”
Organizing this year’s event was trickier than in past years, Caxaj said.
For starters, Caxaj and his team didn’t really begin considering an in-person event until February, given the restrictions that were still in place at the start of the year as the Omicron variant swept through the province. Despite the shorter-than-usual timeline to organize the annual event, now in its 28th edition, this year’s Sunfest attracted one of its largest lineups of artists, Caxaj said.
But the fallout of the pandemic was still being felt this year. Though the festival welcomed its regular number of food stands, it was a different story with craft vendors.
“I think some of them were extremely affected by the pandemic,” Caxaj said. “A good portion of them didn’t return because they probably are not in business anymore.”
Steve Kelly, owner of Fryer Tuck’s Poutine Machine, said this year’s Sunfest was one of the busiest for him, adding he was glad to be back to “one of Canada’s best festivals.”
“I think people are happy to just to be out and bumping shoulders with other people, laughing and listening to music, or walking their dogs and being with their grandkids,” he said. “It’s been really good.”
Caxaj shared that enthusiasm, though he still described this year’s Sunfest as a restart for the festival.
“This is really a new beginning,” he said. “We see this year as a transitional year that will take us into full action looking into the following one.”
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