The community is encouraged to think back to a groovier era at the Nanaimo Heritage Festival this weekend.
This year’s festival is Sunday, May 20, and the theme for 2018 is the 1960s: Peace, Love and Revolution.
Peter Urquhart, event organizer, said the theme was chosen by a wide margin in an online vote several months ago.
“We’ve had a really positive response. There’s a lot of people that are planning on getting into the ’60s groove,” he said.
There will be a parade from Victoria Crescent to Maffeo Sutton Park starting at 1 p.m. and family activities will go on at the park from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. New this year is a show ’n’ shine and a 1960s fashion show, and there will be bouncy castles, face painting and other activities, as well as concerts throughout the day.
Urquhart noted that last year, events were at both Diana Krall Plaza and Maffeo Sutton Park, but this year, aside from the parade route, everything is at the park.
“That doesn’t mean that we’ve cut it in half – it means that we’ve packed everything down into Maffeo,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of new things this year. It’s going to be quite something.”
The entertainment has expanded so as to require a community stage as well as a main stage. Wise Youngblood is the headline act at 5 p.m., with the Femme Fatales playing at 3:45 p.m. The parade route starts on Victoria Crescent, goes up Commercial Street and then along Front Street. The show ‘n’ shine will be in the parking lot at Maffeo Sutton.
Everything at the Nanaimo Heritage Festival is free except food and drinks. For a full schedule of events, visit http://nanaimoheritage.org.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter