Printed from
www.orilliapacket.com web site Friday, May 07, 2004 - © 2004 Orillia Packet & Times
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Mariposa fest to include Lightfoot tribute
Colin McKim
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 08:00
Local News - When the Mariposa Folk Festival returned to Orillia in 2000 after 37 years on the road, legendary troubadour and native son Gordon Lightfoot crowned the homecoming with a vintage performance.
At this summer’s event, Lightfoot’s music will drift back like “a ghost from a wishing well” during a tribute to the 65-year-old singer-songwriter on Sunday, July 11, the final day of the three-day music festival that attracts thousands.
Another Canadian folk icon, Murray McLauchlan, will be a special guest at the Sunday night tribute.
McLauchlan, who sang Lightfoot’s song Home from the Forest on last year’s Lightfoot tribute CD Beautiful, will also perform some of his own material at the festival, said Chris Lusty, the event’s vice-president of marketing.
McLauchlan, best known for his 1970s hits Farmer’s Song, Honky Red and On the Boulevard, tops a lineup this summer that includes Prairie Oyster, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Sue Foley and Mary Gauthier.
Festival organizers were scheduled to make the official announcement of the lineup at a news conference today.
It’s a solid mix of performers, said Lusty, who is particularly excited about Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, a band that unites Steven Fearing, Colin Linden and Tom Wilson.
“They’ll smoke the place,” said Lusty.
Other performers booked for the folk festival in Tudhope Park, July 9,10 and 11, include Brock Zeman, Cindy Church, Dave Gunning, Easily Amused, Enoch Kent, Jason Fowler, Mad Violet, and Mary Gauthier.
The $44 early-bird weekend pass can be bought until May 20 at the Orillia Opera House box office and the Spotlight at 23 Peter St. S or online through Shoppersdrugmart.ca or following links from the Mariposafolk.com website.
The weekend pass jumps to $64 after May 20.