http://www.orilliapacket.com/2014/10...htfoot-his-due Orillia will honour homegrown Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot with a three-day festival.
“There’s a small, committed group of people who have formed a committee and felt because this is his hometown, this is his birthplace, this is where his story all began, this would be a great place to have a festival in his name,” said Jacqueline Soczka, the city’s manager of culture.
Orillia’s first Lightfoot Days will take place Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 and will include a number of tribute bands playing at venues across the city.
The idea for the event was spawned by the community’s enthusiastic response to the 75th-birthday celebration in downtown Orillia for Lightfoot last year, said Soczka.
Lightfoot was born in the city Nov. 17, 1938.
Jack Nicolle, a guitarist in a local tribute act called The Circle is Small Band, was involved in Lightfoot’s 75th-birthday celebration. He now chairs the Lightfoot Days committee.
“I have quite an affiliation with the music, which is a love of mine,” Nicolle said, adding he was a former music student of the lead guitarist in Lightfoot’s band.
Nicolle said he was contacted by Lightfoot’s nephew, Steve Eyers, in light of last year’s birthday celebration. Eyers, who also sits on the Lightfoot Days committee, wanted to be more involved, Nicolle said.
Eyers and his band, Even Steven, will be part of the Lightfoot Days lineup, which includes Nicolle’s band as well.
The highlight will be a tribute concert, scheduled to take place Nov. 1 between 2 and 5 p.m. in the Gordon Lightfoot Auditorium at the Orillia Opera House. It will include performances by the John Stinson Band, Eric Kidd and Steve Eyers, Even Steven and the Circle is Small Band. Karen Hilfman Millson, who, as the former minister of St. Paul’s United Church, spoke with Lightfoot on several occasions, will share her stories.
Lightfoot won’t be able to make the festival this year as he is on tour in the Prairies, Nicolle said.
“However, he has called us up and expressed his gratitude for doing this,” Nicolle said, adding Lightfoot’s sister, Bev, will attend.
Tickets to the tribute concert cost $15 and can be purchased at orilliaoperahouse.ca or by calling 705-326-8011.
For a full schedule of events, follow Orillia Lightfoot Days on Facebook.
roberta.bell@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @roberta__bell