Hog’s Back Park proves to be ideal festival site

Ottawa Folk Festival organizers today confirmed plans to accommodate an ever-growing audience at Hog’s Back Park. Attendance this year is expected to surpass the 50,000 mark achieved in 2013. Pre-sales are up 20% and attendance has been increasing incrementally since 2011, when the RBC Bluesfest team began managing the event, beginning with a re-location to one of Ottawa’s most scenic landmarks. “Ottawa music fans have responded positively to the direction we’ve taken the festival in recent years, including the new site at Hog’s Back Park,” says the festival’s executive/artistic director Mark Monahan. “We’re very pleased with the support, but it’s essential we ensure that everyone enjoys the experience. Since we anticipate a younger crowd for Foster the People, Lorde, J. Cole and a few others, we’ve arranged a drop-off and pick-up area at the intersection of Hog’s Back Road and Riverside Drive so parents can plan to get their kids there and home safely. Also for safety’s sake, Hog’s Back Road will be closed 8 p.m. to midnight from Colonel By to Riverside for pedestrian traffic,” added Monahan. A taxi stand will also be available on Riverside near Hog’s Back Road. For those travelling by car, festival organizers have arranged free parking at Canada Post: http://www.ottawafolk.com/getting-here/easy-to-get-to/ It’s important to note that the Wiggles show starts at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 12, so this is an ideal option for family parking. For added fun and to animate the festivities, a free rickshaw shuttle service is being provided to ferry fans up Hog’s Back Road to the festival site. Paid parking is also available at Vincent Massey Park off Heron Road and in a parking lot on Brookfield Road across from Canada Post (approx fee $7 - $7.50). The paid parking lots do not include shuttle service. Another option for getting to the ‘fest is by bicycle. The National Capital Pathway winds through the festival site at Hog’s Back Park.  Free, secure bike parking will be available at both ends of the park. OC Transpo is also a good option. It’s worth noting that families (2 adults and up to 4 children under 13) can travel with one Day Pass on weekends. In other news, recent additions to an already stellar line-up include Devon Cuddy, Dear Rouge, and local acts We Are Munro, Lucky Ron, and The Peptides. And, you can’t beat the price to get in to the new Craft Beer House — it’s FREE! And so is the entertainment on tap there. Ottawa’s own party act TIMEKODE will kick things off on September 10. There’s a Cape Breton Embassy Party with some of the world’s best fiddlers and east-coast bands on Thursday and Friday, and the Mellotones, a great R&B band from Halifax perform on the weekend. “We’re inviting the whole city to attend. It should be a blast!” says Monahan.  “We’re also bringing in a Food-Truck Rally for the weekend, with everything from Texas cooking and seafood, to Asian Fusion cuisine and more, a KIDZONE, and something we call SESSIONS, featuring interaction among some amazing artists that are slated to perform during the ‘fest.” The free side of the park will also stage a line-up of talent that passersby will not believe is free—all courtesy of the folks at the Ottawa Folk Festival at Hog’s Back Park, near Mooney’s Bay. Media contact: AJ Sauve Director of Media Relations Ottawa Folk Festival (613) 247-1188 ext. 229 | Toll free: 1-866-258-3748 ajsauve@ottawabluesfest.ca