The Blyth Festival is Getting Ready to Celebrate Its 50th Season

by Bob Montgomery

The Blyth Festival will celebrate its 50th season this year.

Artistic Director Gil Garratt says the first season was not without its challenges. The building hadn't been used for several years. There was a hole in the roof, there were some problems with the walls bowing out and it was a huge effort on the part of several volunteers to get it ready to be used in 1975. In fact, two years earlier when the artists first expressed an interest in using the space, the township insisted they sign a waver stating that if the roof fell in on someone's head they wouldn't sue the township. They took the chance and it's worked out pretty well. Garratt says since 1975 they've sold more than a million tickets to the Blyth Festival to see live, original Canadian plays.

Garratt describes the birth of the Blyth Festival as the realization of a dream that was held by a whole community of people and there isn't anything like it anywhere.

The 50th season opens with The Farm Show on June 12th on the outdoor Harvest Stage. The Farm Show was originally produced in a barn just fifteen minutes outside of Blyth and was directly responsible for the founding of the Festival.

You can expect more from us, on this, and other shows presented at the Blyth Festival this year, as the season approaches. Click the image below to visit the Blyth Festival website.