The 30^th Annual HOPE Volleyball SummerFest event combines the World’s Largest One Day recreational volleyball event with live rock entertainment. Each year, more than 25,000 players and spectators flock to Mooney’s Bay Beach in Ottawa for the greatest summer party in the region. These participants have helped HOPE donate over $3.5 million in support of more than 110 local charities.

Festival Information:

General information: 613.237.1433

General information email: info@hopehelps.com

Location: Mooney’s Bay Beach, Ottawa, ON

On the Web:

Website: www.hopehelps.com

Facebook: www.hopevolleyballottawa.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/hopevballottawa.com

The 18th annual Folk Festival wrapped up Sunday night on a positive note.

Attendance for the festival, which was moved to Hog’s Back Park and extensively restructured by Bluesfest’s executive producer Mark Monahan, is up nearly 25% over the 2010 edition at Britannia Beach Park to between 18,000 and 20,000 total for the four-day weekend.

And that’s just the beginning. Next year, Monahan wants to grow the festival even bigger, upwards of 30,000. The question now is, what is he prepared to do with the programming in order to bring new fans to the park?

“We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the move to Hog’s Back Park and the changes we’ve made,” Monahan said Sunday night. “The structure of the Folk Festival is already there. If we focus on interactive programming, a tradition at the Folk Festival, we’ll retain the relaxed feel that people love.”

Read more on the Ottawa Sun website: Folk Festival ends on high note

OTTAWA — Terrific performances by Bruce Hornsby and Hawksley Workman helped kick off a new era for the Ottawa Folk Festival on Thursday.

The 18th annual edition of the grassroots music festival is under high-powered new management and taking place this weekend in a spacious new site at Hog’s Back Park. It continues Friday and runs until Sunday.

Well, the gods appear to be smiling on the new arrangement. The opening-night weather was perfect, the crowd of 4,000 showed up and the music was fantastic. Not that it wasn’t fantastic in previous years, but Thursday really felt like a night when everything clicked into place on a bigger and more professional scale than ever before.

Bruce Hornsby, who hasn’t been to Ottawa in the last couple of decades, was a great choice for headliner. Hunched over the grand piano, the American pianist was surrounded by the incredibly talented members of his Noisemakers band. As they jumped in on his tinkling, the song, White Wheeled Limousine, followed an unpredictable path of musical dynamics.

Between songs, Hornsby demonstrated a down-to-earth sense of humour and appalling French.

The 18th annual edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival, taking place Aug. 25-28, marks the dawn of a new era for the grassroots event. Now run by the same people who organize Ottawa’s biggest summer music festival, Bluesfest, our cosy little folkfest is about to experience a growth spurt.

For starters, it’s taking place in a spacious new site at Hog’s Back Park, where there’s room for multiple stages and thousands of people. Naturally, a key part of the strategy to get people in the park and attract a new generation of festivalgoers is to spend more money on artists. Prominent American musicians like Bruce Hornsby, Steve Earle, Bright Eyes and Levon Helm anchor this year’s $500,000 lineup.

But, in a refrain that echoes the where’s-the-blues-at-Bluesfest lament, folk-music fans are wondering where the folk is. At a time when folk music is thriving and a new generation of musicians is exploring folk traditions, the amount of traditional folk music at this year’s festival seems limited.

EMC Entertainment – Families and counter-culture fans alike are eagerly anticipating the oncoming Folk Festival held in the centre of the city at Hog’s Back Park Aug. 25 to 28.

“(Our new location) gives you the opportunity to see a lot of these artists in an intimate setting.”

“It also gives people a chance to see artists in the workshops, there’s a lot of interactive opportunities,” said artistic director and Folk Festival supervisor Mark Monahan.

“It’s really a gem of a site, a beautiful setting in the heart of the city. ”

“We’re very excited to have Hog’s Back Park as the new home for the festival.”

The Ottawa Folklore Centre is one of the founding sponsors of the event and has been heavily involved with the preparations including setting up numerous interactive workshops.

“It’s really important to have their involvement and have local artists apart of the Folk Festival,” Monahan added.

The Folk Festival used to be held at Britannia Park but because of some limitations the festival was moved to Hog’s Back Park this year.

“The festival is not viable in its (older) location for a number of reasons, but mainly because of accessibility,” said Monahan.

Read more on the EMC News website: Folk Festival takes new ride on Hogs Back

Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Folk Festival

When & Where: August 25-28, Hog’s Back Park

Tickets: Early-bird passes, $99, June 8, others June 11, www.capitaltickets.ca, 613-599-3267

OTTAWA — American roots heavyweights Bruce Hornsby, Steve Earle, Bright Eyes and Levon Helm are among the headliners of this year’s expanded edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival, slated for Aug. 25-28 in a spacious new location at Hog’s Back Park.

“Going from where it was, there was a certain leap of faith that if I could put an interesting lineup together, we could expand the audience,” said Bluesfest director Mark Monahan, who’s been supervising the folk festival organization since Bluesfest took it over late last year and provided an infusion of cash to help the struggling folkfest pay off its deficit. Under Bluesfest’s management, the talent budget has also tripled, reaching a new peak of $500,000.

“It’s time to expand the audience so it’s not just going after one core group. We want to try to give enough for people to see their way to going for the weekend,” Monahan said, noting that early-bird passes will be on sale for $99, starting June 8. “My expectations are not for 20,000 people a day, but I’d like to think we can have several thousand a day.”

Read More on the Ottawa Citizen Website: Hornsby, Helm among headliners at Ottawa Folk Festival: Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, Rural Alberta Advantage, Lynn Miles among strong Canadian contingent