Voyageur Days Festival weekend electrifies Mattawa

The 25th anniversary of Mattawa’s Voyageur Days Festival was by all accounts a success. Large crowds came out for the music, the weather was beautiful, and there was a great festive feeling throughout the town.

“I consider Mattawa Voyageur Days to be an institution in Mattawa,” said Mayor Raymond Bélanger. “It’s a homecoming” for many residents and their friends and families, “it’s also a welcoming for a lot of people who have never experienced Mattawa.”

“And once they come, they want to come back,” Mayor Bélanger added.

See: Voyageur Days announces headliners for 25th anniversary event

Let’s address the elephant in the room. There were murmurings this weekend that this may be the last Voyageur Days – go out with a bang after it’s 25th year. BayToday reached out to the mayor on Saturday, and he was quick to respond – “I also heard those comments. News to me.”

He added that from what he saw, the event “did not look like a festival on it’s way-out.”

Indeed, attendance at the shows was up, and within the coming weeks, the organizing committee will present the official numbers to council.

This morning, BayToday reached out to him for comment, and he doubled down on his commitment to the event. “I’ll reaffirm that this year we’re not going to wait a long time to announce that we’re doing it again. We’re going to get council rallied up because I’m sure they’re in the same mind frame as I am.”

“It’s a great thing,” Mayor Bélanger said of the weekend event, “it helps the business community, and you know we don’t want this going away.”

There were events held throughout the weekend at various locations throughout town, including the Brian Bangs Memorial Annual Fishing Derby, a vendor’s market on Main Street, and musicians took the stage at Annie’s Park downtown as well.

The Genoa Circus set up at the arena on Saturday, Science North came to town to demonstrate some Spooktacular Science, bouncy castles aplenty for the kids, and the volunteer firefighters held a BBQ – yes, Sparky was there.

And that’s only a partial list of what was offered. As for the tunes, Friday night was country night, with the James Barker Band headlining, with The Washboard Union opening. The field at Explorer’s Point was packed.

On Saturday, the buzz was all about Our Lady Peace, and people came from far and wide to catch the show. The Hip Experience and the Muskoka River Band opened the show. On Sunday, local musicians took the stage, Brad Rose, Josh Dimmel, The Unknown, Richard Chenier, Pop Machine, and the Revue all rocked the crowd. Some of the performers also played at Annie’s Park the day before.

“It was packed” at the point for those shows, Mattawa’s CAO Paul Laperriere emphasized. “I don’t have the numbers yet, but it was really well-attended.” He also noted there were no troubles over the weekend. People behaved well throughout the days, and the OPP had a large paddy-wagon behind the fence near the front gate, which helped remind people to keep their cool.

Laperriere mentioned that the town’s population at least “doubles on the weekend,” and he’s glad everyone had a good time safely.

“Kudos to our staff and volunteers,” Mayor Bélanger said, “they made it happen.”

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.