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Renfrew's Bluegrass Festival returns after three years

The Northern Sons perform at Renfrew's Bluegrass Festival. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa) The Northern Sons perform at Renfrew's Bluegrass Festival. (Dylan Dyson/CTV News Ottawa)
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It has been three years since the town of Renfrew last hosted their Bluegrass Festival in 2019 and with fears of the pandemic tuned out, the festival picked up right where it left off.

"We're all pretty happy with it considering it's been three years," festival committee chair Arlene Jamieson tells CTV News.

"I had many stressful nights because we either figured that it either would go or it wouldn't," says Jamieson, "because there's still a lot of people who are nervous about being out in public because of COVID."

The Bluegrass Festival is the biggest event of the year for Renfrew, creating a big economic boost for the town.

Jamieson says with campers still rolling in Saturday, attendance could surpass levels from 2019.

"That bluegrass demographic is the people that are consider the most nervous about COVID, so for sure that was a huge concern," says the organizer. "But a lot of them are here that were here three years ago, so they were anxious."

One of the many bands performing throughout the weekend, Northern Sons, a bluegrass group with roots in the Ottawa Valley, is happy to once again see the festival back on the calendar.

"It feels like home," says band member and fiddler Chris Wilson. "We've always said this feels like our home festival. Almost everybody in the audience you recognize and know as friends."

Wilson says the Northern Sons played on stage together for the first time since 2019 at Galop Canal festival in mid-June, making Renfrew' Bluegrass Festival just their third show together in three years.

"This is the first time in two and a half years that I've felt normal," says Wilson. "People sitting in the audience, seeing people you haven't seen in three years and giving them hugs."

The Bluegrass Festival runs until midday Sunday.

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