The SweetWater Music Festival: A Feast for Music Lovers and Musicians

Originally written for the CAMMAC newsletter for the April/May/June issue by SweetWater Board member Gail Gallant.

 Festival artists at Georgian Shores United Church September 16, 2022. (Photo John White) 

Owen Sound in Grey County, Ontario is known for many things: its rich history, where the rural roots run deep, and its natural beauty, sitting as it does on the western shore of Georgian Baywith the Niagara Escapement cutting straight through town on its way up the Bruce Peninsula. But what this region also boasts is a strong tradition of making and sharing music. 

Every third week in September, exceptional musicians from across Canada, America and Europe assemble in Owen Sound to perform classical, jazz and contemporary music concerts at the SweetWater Music Festival. Concerts take place over five days at a variety of venues, from the historic Leith Church to the funky Heartwood Concert Hall. Some feature celebrated groups like the Rosebud String Quartet and The Fretless, and others showcase hand-picked outstanding musicians, many of whom have never played together before and who are performing complex classical compositions together on stage after a mere day or two of rehearsing. That spirit of collaboration pervades SweetWater, making it the quintessential music lover’s music festival! 

But SweetWater is also the quintessential musician’s music festival. It’s a unique experience for the musicians who come to town to perform complex orchestration, sometimes with old friends and acquaintances and sometimes new friends. And for amateur musicians, there’s plenty to appreciate too. 

Leith Historic Church, September 17, 2022. (Photo John White) 

The festival was conceived twenty years ago by Mark Fewer, virtuoso violinist and SweetWater’s first Artistic Director, along with local residents Keith and Jean Medley. Keith and Jean were life-long music lovers, and Keith, a farm boy born raised just outside Owen Sound, was himself a classically trained amateur pianist. He served in those early years as the Sweetwater Festival’s producer. 

The very first festivals focused on classical music at the Leith Church and were supported by a collection of community volunteers who epitomized small town hospitality. The post-concert gatherings were large and festive affairs at the Medley farm, in party tents, with extravagant potluck dinners of casseroles and apple pies and home baked bread brought in from all around the community. Musicians from away were usually billeted in private homes in town and on farms.

Next Wave artist Brigitte Walsh, Georgian Bay Centre for the Arts, September 19, 2022. (Photo John White) 

From the very beginning, SweetWater’s celebration of musicians didn’t end with the visiting professional musicians. Everyone in the community who loved making music, young and old, accomplished and aspiring, serious and playful, could feel a part of the event. Apart from the actual concert performances, non-professional musicians from the local community and beyond took part in music workshops and classical jams, giving them a chance to perform in public, along side some of the best in the country. There was a camaraderie between the celebrated headliners of the festival, veteran amateurs, and aspiring musicians in Grey County. There were programmes like Mozart for Munchkins, classroom visits, primary grades and high school, and free tickets for young adults training for their own music careers. It’s no accident that SweetWater has evolved to be as much a treat for musicians as it is for audiences. It’s in its DNA. 

Lynda Montgomery, a past chair of SweetWater’s board, loves the general camaraderie of the festival, but especially the bonds that form among the musicians. She believes the connection that develops among the musicians is partly due to the sensitive awareness of Mark Fewer, artistic director for the first 16 years of Sweetwater, and his successor, Edwin Huizinga. “Mark, and now Edwin, are very careful with who they are ‘putting in the mix’.” Each year brings a new synergy that produces its own very rewarding result. 

Says Lynda, “I truly, truly love seeing that develop and finally manifest itself during the performances. To me, that is the MAGIC!” 

The Fretless, Roxy Theatre, September 19, 2022. (Photo John White) 

Another former chair and amateur musician of the SweetWater board, Colleen Purdon, is also classically trained, as are her husband and all four children, one of whom now performs professionally. Colleen’s lifelong love of music drew her to music education, and she eventually qualified as a music therapist. But throughout her varied career, she’s spent her life making music in community in many forms, from orchestras to folk groups to choir. 

Colleen says it comes down to an attitude towards music’s place in our lives. “In the culture of SweetWater, it’s about music and people and the connection we have through music with the people in our community, sharing that experience.” 

She also credits SweetWater’s two artistic directors, first Mark, and now Edwin, with SweetWater’s vision and heart. They have “a really big-picture look at music in people’s lives.” What’s more, they have a very broad experience of music. “They don’t just play their instruments very, very well, they also have a broad range of musical interests.” And they bring that broad range to the SweetWater line up each year. Edwin, in fact, a virtuoso violinist, performs baroque music, teaches at the Oberlin College and Conservatory – where he once studied, composes modern classical compositions for Opera Atelier and the National Arts Centre, but also tours as one half of a traditional folk duo called Fire and Grace, and has played violin in the Juno-winning rock band, The Wooden Sky.

Ahmed Moneka's Arabic Jazz, Heartwood Concert Hall, September 18, 2022. (Photo John White) 

Over its first twenty years, the festival has gradually grown more ambitious, but it hasn’t lost it’s small- town summer festival flavour, with free outdoor concerts in downtown public spaces and with pay-what-you-can ticketing for some events, there is a commitment to access and inclusion. But the festival continues to go a step further for musicians and aspiring musicians with workshops, educational outreach at schools and the New Wave programme that showcases promising young adults through online and festival performances, and a tradition from year one of honouring region’s many skilful luthiers, by highlighting and performing on their handmade violins. 

This coming September, SweetWater will be celebrating their 20th anniversary, and among the celebrations to mark the occasion will be the return as special guest of co-founder Mark Fewer, joining Edwin Huizinga to take part in several unique concerts through the festival week. 

Colleen hopes Sweetwater never loses the spirit of connection promised in the Sweetwater Vision Statement, “Music that inspires, challenges and connects.” What is most important, she says, is to make the opportunities for music appreciation happen, to make it possible. “We’re all musical beings, born with music.”