Emancipation Festival returns to Owen Sound
Over 1000 people made the trip to Owen Sound this weekend for the return of the Emancipation Festival.
After being forced to go online the last two years, the historic celebration was back in-person for its 160th anniversary.
“The importance is one of family, one of unity, and we’re also sending the message out that it’s a celebration of a picnic that started 160 years ago,” said Jeffrey Smith the chair of Owen Sound Emancipation Festival.
Smith, who grew up in the area, has been attending the festival his entire life.
He told stories of his ancestors coming through the Underground Railroad in search of freedom North of the border.
“My mother had 19 brothers and sisters. All of their families came up through the Underground Railroad. My grandmother, Granny Smith, came up from Chicago,” said Smith.
Smith was joined by dozens more who shared similar stories.
On Sunday, crowds of people filled the grounds of Grey Roots Museum and Archives to take in live music, dancing and stories.
“The festival allows us to celebrate the legacy of our ancestors,” Carolynn Wilson.
“We would come to the Emancipation Festival as a community celebrating freedom, celebrating families,” said Sylvia Wilson.
Over the decades, organizers say the festival has grown into the longest continuous festival in North America—attracting people and musicians from all backgrounds.
The three-day event began on Friday with live music and food at the Grey Roots museum.
A traditional picnic followed that in Harrison Park on Saturday, and lastly, back at Grey Roots for a concert featuring Diana Braithwaite, Chris Whiteley, Liberty Silver and Eddie Bullen.
“It takes us three hours to get here so just imagine the travel, troubles and tribulations that our forefathers had to go through. These are the shoulders we stand on today,” said Bullen.
Organizers say they are already preparing for next summer.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.