Ottawa Grassroots Festival kicks off Thursday bringing concerts, events

Joining me now to tell us more about the annual Grassroots Festival is Alison Bowie, the Festival's Executive Director as well as Performer George Stryker.

Attention music lovers, an annual festival is taking place in the capital this weekend.

The Ottawa Grassroots Festival takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, offering three evenings of ticketed concerts and two full days of free-to-attend events, Alison Bowie, the festival’s executive director, told CTV Morning Live Wednesday.

“All day Saturday and Sunday, we have three events going on throughout the day,” she said. “Everybody’s welcome.”

She says it opens Thursday night with performer George Stryker.

“Roots music is just how it all started, and what it all means, and we play acoustic when we have a little bit of electro stuff going on. But it’s just about the roots,” Stryker told CTV Morning Live Wednesday.

The festival takes place at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa located at 30 Cleary Ave.

Here’s the evening concert schedule:

• Thursday: The Dusty Drifters at 7:30 p.m., and Barrow Gang Buskers at 9 p.m.
• Friday: Evangeline Gentle at 7:30 p.m., and Lynn Miles at 9 p.m.
• Saturday: Josh Ritchie at 7:30 p.m., and the Devin Cuddy Band at 9 p.m.

The daytime schedule includes:

• Saturday: Doors will open at 10:30 a.m., performances from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (free).
• Sunday: Doors will open at 12:00 p.m., Gospel Hour at noon, performances from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. (free).

More information is available online.