Ostriches and rock music combine for fundraising music festival at B.C. farm

A sign calling for the protection of ostriches at the Universal Ostrich Farms is displayed at the farm in Edgewood, B.C., on Saturday, May 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens

Event goers who descended upon Edgewood, B.C., over the weekend for Farm Aid Canada were treated to all the typical fixings of a cutting-edge music festival: rock music, food trucks, and family-friendly events. There was one element, however, that separated it from its contemporaries. Ostriches.

Run by Universal Ostrich Farms, the festival was designed to raise funds for the mounting legal fees expected to be spent by the farm’s owners in the battle to keep its ostriches, after an order to cull hundreds of the birds was made by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency earlier this year.

The order, issued over fears of a possible avian flu infection, has garnered much attention in the months since and has provoked an outpouring of support for the farm from animal rights activists, fellow farmers and the likes of the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Despite the festival being thrown together in “just a matter of weeks” – posters depicting ostriches donning leather jackets and grasping electric guitars were circulated just days prior to the event’s beginning – crowds flocked to the farm in their thousands to offer their support, says Katie Pasitney, whose parents own the farm.

“It was wonderful,” she says.

The atmosphere fluctuated across the weekend as the crowd experienced moments of sadness as they considered the future the farm could face, says Pasitney. For the most part, however, the lineup, comprising acts like Blind Joe from season nine of The Voice and Kootenay Jack, ensured spirits were high.

“It was a great turn out,” says Paritney, describing how Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski had even been on hand Sunday, and had baptized 40 guests in the river by day’s end.

“Everybody’s morale was really positive and supportive, (there was) a lot of crying and a lot of laughter, but all in all it was just really nice for everybody to be around like-minded people,” she says.

“Everybody is desiring the change that all Canadians are waiting for right now,” she said, adding how everyone is “looking for hope.”

Support is still pouring in for the farm, with travellers from all over the country even making Universal Ostrich a destination stop on their road trips so they can take pictures with the owners, ask their own questions and get the latest updates regarding the ongoing saga.

“We have a lot of support. We have a lot of people that don’t want to see animals that are healthy be slaughtered, especially with no testing,” she says.

Richard Allen, one of the organizers of the event, didn’t divulge how much funds were raised over the course of the weekend but did say that it was a “generous” and “significant” sum, and that those in attendance totalled “several thousands.”

Allen described the atmosphere of the event as being one of “very much one of fellowship, love and community and support.”

As the event was rounding off on Sunday, Pasitney had been heading to the airport to board a flight to Ottawa for her planned visit to the Federal Court of Appeal, Tuesday, to continue her fight against the order.

“We’re all sitting at the edge of our seats, waiting to see what will happen,” she says.