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Tofino’s first Folk Festival coming to town Thanksgiving weekend

Acoustic shows, plus kid-friendly performances slated for The Maq Lounge.
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Jon and Roy, long-time bandmates from Victoria, B.C., headline the Tofino Folk Festival. The folk rock reggae band plays at the Tofino Legion on Saturday, Oct. 6. (KIM JAY PHOTO)

Tickets for Tofino’s inaugural Folk Festival on Thanksgiving weekend are selling fast, so be sure to get yours before they’re gone, says event organizer Jess Brickell.

An extensive lineup of local talent and high quality headliners like Jesse Roper and Jon and Roy are confirmed.

The festival will span across three venues: the Tofino Legion, the Maq Pub, and the Maq Lounge. Folk Fest artistic director and musician Steve Bick said the new event was unofficially organized by a budding non-profit called the Arts Incubator.

“We are bringing all these venues together to work on one festival with a common goal: creating unity in the arts,” Bick said, adding that The Maq Hotel is essentially putting the event on.

“The owners of the hotel [John and Denise Hooks] have been really generous to help fund it,” he said.

Jesse Roper is scheduled to play at the Legion on the Friday night and Jon and Roy will play at the Legion on Saturday. The Maq Pub will have shows all night long and The Maq Lounge will feature pop-up shows in the afternoons.

“All the artists that have agreed to join the bill will be making an appearance to do a short acoustic set,” notes Bick.

“There is always going to be something on,” echoes Brickell. “From the early afternoon until the middle of the night.”

She went on to say that The Maq Lounge will boast a kid-friendly atmosphere for the early afternoon performances.

“If parents wanted to buy tickets and then bring the kids, that’s all good,” she said.

Experimental folk artist Ora Cogan from Victoria will perform songs from her new album ‘Crickets’. Hollow Twin, the dark folk rock duo based in Vancouver, will bring their “Woodstock soul sisters” vibe to the stage.

Folk artist Oliver Swain and Vancouver duo Old Soul Rebel are coming out too.

“And a lot of local acts who live here [in Tofino] and Ukee,” said Bick.

Tickets to the Tofino Folk Festival can be purchased at The Maq Hotel or online at: tofinofolkfestival.com.

The $50 early bird all-access festival ticket price has been extended, and, to sweeten the deal, Folk Fest ticket holders will be entered in a draw to win a surfboard donated by Storm.

“The first 200 people to buy tickets will be entered in a draw to win [the surfboard]. It’s a super nice board,” said Brickell.

First 200 people to buy tickets to the Tofino Folk Festival get entered into a draw to win this 6'2" surfboard.