For cousins Michael Smith and Dave Holditch the River and Sky Festival was a chance to revisit their Northern Ontario roots.
“I'm originally from the north, born in the north, and this is kind of a homecoming or pilgrimage,” said Holditch, who lives in Welland, Ontario, and was at the festival for the second consecutive year over the mid-July weekend.
“You get up here and you can see the stars,” said Smith, who was born in Thessalon but now lives in Newmarket. “Down where we're from you don't get to see the stars like you do up here in the north.”
Both cousins said they plan to make the festival a regular summer destination, and are hoping to bring their spouses next year.
For the fifth year the River and Sky Music and Camping Festival took over Chris Fisher's 192-acre property – which he and his wife Julie call Fisher's Paradise – in Field, Ontario, halfway between Sudbury and North Bay.
More than 30 bands performed on two stages along the winding Sturgeon River and hundreds of people staked their small claims in Fisher's Paradise for the weekend with their tents or trailers.
Fisher said the local community in Field has embraced the festival, which celebrates the camping lifestyle that is synonymous with Northern Ontario, and some of the best independent and emerging music Canadian artists have to offer.
“It does a lot for this community,” he said. “The corner store in Field has its best weekend of the year by a long shot.”
Festival director Peter Zwarich said the festival's growth over the years has been controlled to maintain the Northern Ontario charm that has come to define River and Sky.
“There's no sense in doing something that celebrates this culture – the camping culture around here – with a stressed out agenda,” he said.
Zwarich said the bands appreciate the more laid-back atmosphere they don't always see at other festivals with multiple security checkpoints and big corporate sponsorships.
But even with its managed growth and small footprint, Zwarich said people came from as far away as South Africa and Switzerland to attend the eighth edition of River and Sky.
Sudbury's Jennifer Holub has attended every River and Sky festival and said even with fewer familiar faces each year, the festival has kept its focus on community.
“There's something about this that reminds me of summer camp, where all your friends are at the same place,” she said.
