The Hill at Home – August 6 – 8, 2021 – Edmonton Folk Music Festival August 10 – 13, 2023

THE HILL AT HOME
Join us August 6-8
 
Layout your tarps and chairs, put on your folk fest t-shirts, and get ready to enjoy a weekend of music, song, food, and art at home! Join us for The Hill at Home, August 6 – 8, 2021.

Once again we have a very exciting online presentation. Take in the concerts with Brandi Carlile and Hozier. A good screen, good sound system and good company will set you up for an excellent evening of viewing. The concerts are a brilliant testament to what we do and the sound is superb. I am very thankful that these artists trusted us with this archival material. It is rare to receive the go ahead for concerts like this. The concerts are free and they will run from 6pm on Friday August 6th to midnight on Sunday August 8th. 

I am confident that we will have a festival on Gallagher Park next year, until then please enjoy all the content that our staff has put together for your Hill at Home.

To your health, Terry Wickham ( producer )

Visit edmontonfolkfest.org/thehillathome for your portal to having the best Hill at Home possible.

MUSIC: Relive some incredible concerts from the last time we were all together. Enjoy Hozier and Brandi Carlile’s mainstage performances from 2019. These full concerts are free and can be viewed from Friday, August 6 at 6pm – Sunday, August 8 at midnight at FAVAtv.com. Get together with family and friends, set up in your backyard or have a viewing party with your whole block!

SONG: This year we look forward to the EFMF Finale as we sing Four Strong Winds together with Jim Cuddy. Singing Four Strong Winds for our finale is a beloved EFMF tradition. We want you to sing Four Strong Winds with us! Be a part of this year’s finale, and be entered to win EFMF swag, by submitting your own video – details below or you can find instructions online here. The Four Strong Winds Song Along Finale will be available to watch Sunday August 8 on our website and across social media.

50/50: We are so excited to announce our 2021 50/50 cash raffle! Win up to $50,000 cash plus early bird draws for festival passes. Tickets are 1 for $10, 4 for $20, 20 for $50, and 100 for $100.  Head to rafflebox.ca/raffle/efmfs for details and tickets. Thank you for your support!

LANTERN PARADE: Watch a livestream as our amazing volunteers hold a festival lantern parade for you on Friday, August 6 at 9:30 – view on our Facebook page live!

VIRTUAL TARP RUN: Remember the bagpipes and early mornings in the lottery to get that perfect spot? Although we’re not putting tarps on the hill this year, we hope you’ll join us to celebrate the fun by running or walking as part of our Virtual Tarp Run & Walk between August 6-8th. Runner’s cap and cooling towel included with your registration! Details and registration here.

EAT & SHOP: Purchase festival merchandise in our General Store. Order your favourite festival food and shop in our online artisan market. You’ll find festival posters at Vivid Print and exclusive Hill at Home growlers from Odd Company. Whip up some delicious recipes straight from our famous festival kitchen.

SHARE & WIN: You’ll have a chance to win as well! Share photos of your Hill at Home weekend, follow and tag us on IG and Facebook and be entered to win a Hill at Home prize package that includes festival gear and 2 passes to the next Edmonton Folk Music Festival!

We can’t wait to see you for the Hill at Home.

Message from the Board of Directors

For the second year in a row the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and its staff have had to adjust and find a meaningful way to share the celebration of Folk Music and community outside of our usual haunt of Gallagher Park. The Hill at Home 2021 Celebration endeavours to bring the music and feeling of community to your homes, either through a community concert or through your televisions and computer screens with our online programming. 

The Hill at Home events taking place this year couldn’t have even been dreamed up if we weren’t fuelled by the passion and hunger for live music, provided by our patrons. Thank you for sticking by our side and riding out the past many months with us. Your dedication to the festival is admirable and is truly impactful for everyone working behind the scenes in volunteer or staff capacity. 

I know we all would rather be on our tarps and eating our kettle corn, or waiting in line for the notorious beer gardens, or burning our mouth on a green onion cake, but the path back to there is hopeful and optimistic. The staff of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival have worked tirelessly for the better part of two years to ensure we had the momentum as an organization to make it back and intact for 2022, they all deserve to be applauded for their efforts. 

As we endure one more less than normal summer, we also must take the time to reflect in a meaningful way about our community as a whole and reflect upon our own actions and impacts both positive and negative. The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is a place where we truly believe that everyone is welcome and belongs, where we pride ourselves on kindness, openness, and acceptance. Belief in these attributes is no longer enough. The Board of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival Society is committed to being vocal about our solidarity, continuing to educate ourselves, and ensuring the policy and governance of the festival keeps us positioned to do the work needed to be better. We understand our role in a colonial history and we acknowledge that there is much we do not know and commit ourselves to the ongoing work and learning that is required. 

Over the next several weeks, I hope you have the opportunity to reflect on festivals of past, dust off some old EFMF shirts to wear around town, and most importantly have the opportunity to enjoy some of the offerings we have this year. The public response to the programming efforts has been truly remarkable and has proved that our spirit is very strong. Take care of yourselves, be kind to each other, and when we meet again in Gallagher Park (in the words of the late great John Prine) “there won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts, a’dancin’ in our eyes”.

Andrew Currie
Chair – Board of Directors, Edmonton Folk Music Festival Society

Calling all folkies and Edmonton Folk Festival friends to come together in song and spirit, to keep the tradition alive! Be a part of this year’s Four Strong Winds Wing Along with Jim Cuddy! Click the image below for info and instructions.