The 55th annual Mariposa Folk Festival is underway in Orillia.

The annual event is taking place at Tudhope Park, which will host 10 stages and more than 100 artists.

More than 25,000 people are expected to take in the festival and for the third straight year a special stage has been set-up in downtown Orillia. It’s a way of expanding the festival and many of the businesses that line Mississaga Street are more than happy to have it.

“Before we didn’t have this, it was like a little bit of a ghost town downtown and now the stage it just brings people to downtown,” says owner Nancy Willsey.

The festival runs until Sunday night.