The first Mariposa Folk Festival was organized by Ruth Jones, Dr. Crawford Jones, Pete McGarvey and David Major. The event was named after a fictional town of Mariposa featured in Stephen Leacock’s sequence of stories Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. According to Leacock, Mariposa is not a real town, but it was largely inspired by Orillia.
The festival was held in Orillia from 1961 to 1963 before being banned from the city because of disturbances caused by festival-goers. In the subsequent years it traveled across Ontario. Cities that have hosted Mariposa Folk Festival include Toronto, Barrie, Cobourg, Caledon, and Bracebridge. In 2000, the festival returned to Orillia and has been held in Tudhope Park every year since.
Mariposa Folk Festival is organized by Mariposa Folk Foundation, a charitable arts organization whose mission is to promote and preserve traditional art in Canada through song, dance, story and craft. The Foundation’s core values are inclusiveness, progressiveness, learning, social conscience, trust, and diversity.
Mariposa Folk Festival features primarily Canadian singers-songwriters from Ontario and other provinces. Over the years, it has also welcomed international performers such as Zimbabwean a capella singing and traditional dance group Black Umfolosi, South African musician Brian Litvin with his band Jabulani, Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Kunle, and other performers of folk and world music from different countries.
The 3-day festival offers over 150 performances on 12 stages and features world-class musicians of the North American and international scenes, as well as emerging artists who deserve to be discovered and get their big break. Alongside concerts on several stages, the program of Mariposa Folk Festival features showcases of up-and-coming artists, workshops, impromptu jam sessions, and other exciting events and activities for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Photo: mariposafolk.com
