New Hamburg Live! Festival of the Arts a success
Saturday, June 9th, 2012
From the New Hamburg Independent; by Joel Wittnebel, Independent Staff
After six days of concerts, performances and art showcases, which included the likes of The Canadian Brass and John McDermott, New Hamburg Live has closed the curtain on another successful year.
"We are really, really pleased," said executive director for the event Paul Knowles. "We had 13 events and all of them either met, or exceeded our expectations."
"The crowds were good and very enthusiastic," he said.
This was the fourth year for the production, and over the course of the event, which ran from May 28 to June 3, 2,000 people came out to watch one, or many of the shows that were offered.
Emily Leland and Ron Grant, two friends from New Hamburg, got out to see as many events their schedules would allow throughout the week.
"We do it because we like this kind of music," said Leland, "and we thinking New Hamburg Live! is the best thing since sliced bread."
"We think it's only going to get bigger," said Grant.
Emily and Bob Leland and Ron Grant have been coming to New Hamburg Live since the first year, and are consistently impressed with the performances they've seen.
"We're very surprised with the quality of musicians and artists that they bring to our community," said Emily Leland.
While some of the acts came from out of town, like the Factory Arts String Quartet out of Stratford, according to Knowles one of the benefits of the show is that it gives opportunities to local artists that they would not otherwise have.
"It encourages our local artists," said Knowles, "We give them the opportunity to participate."
"We're finding more ways to employ local and regional musicians," he said, "and we're very pleased to do that." |
