Ani Difranco

In the spirit of staving off the winter blahs, I’d like to introduce you to (or remind you of) an absolutely lovely festival that takes place in my backyard – an exaggeration, but it is pretty close by. As some may know, the legendary Hillside Festival finds its home at the Guelph Lake Conservation Area and is an annual weekend extravaganza full of swimming, dancing, workshops, and excellent musicianship tied together with the threads of community and environmental consciousness. Truly, the only problem with Hillside is that it takes place but once a year. As a way of tiding us over the unbearably long stretch between summers, the masterminds behind the Hillside concept dreamt up a sister festival, this one being indoors and and taking place during the chilliest season. In its third year running, the (one-day) Hillside Inside Festival will be taking place on February 6th at the Sleeman Center in Guelph, with the likes of Ani Difranco (only Southern Ontario appearance!), Hawksley Workman, Final Fantasy, Martin Sexton, Basia Bulat, Rural Alberta Advantage, Bahamas, Woodhands and many others gathering to kick the snowy weather in the pants.

For more details and tickets, check out http://www.hillsidefestival.ca/

What are you waiting for? Grab your reusable Hillside mug and I’ll see you there!