Sarnia Bayfest
Rogers Sarnia Bayfest is an annual music festival in Centennial Park - downtown Sarnia, Ontario, Canada - that takes place in July each year.
Since 1999, Rogers Bayfest has grown from attracting a few thousand visitors to approximately 100,000.
The festival is run by Bayfest Festival of Performing Arts; a non-profit charitable organization. Bayfest involves and benefits a number of charities and capitalizes on the hometown feeling and the festival environment.
As of 2009, Bayfest split into two weekends in July: Rock acts play on the 2nd weekend, and a Country weekend follows on the 3rd weekend. The festival has won numerous awards: The largest being 1) Winner of Ontario Tourism's Best Business/Event of the year 2009, and 2) Festival of Distinction which is a Lifetime Achievement award given out by Festival and Events Ontario.
Bayfest also has 2 scholarship programs for students. The first is The Jim Stokley Scholarship which was founded after the passing of Jim Stokley (co-founder of Bayfest) and the second is a Bayfest/MetalWorks Institute scholarship. There are currently 2 Jim Stokley Scholarships given out annually to deserving Sarnia-Lambton students and 1 Bayfest/MetalWorks Institute annually.
Bayfest Festival of Performing Arts has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local charities and non-profit organizations.
On February 25th, 2013, the Sarnia Bayfest announced it was taking an indefinite hiatus as a result of increasing costs and stagnant sponsorship opportunities.
Read more about Sarnia Bayfest: Rogers Bayfest By The Years