Supercrawl, an annual art and indie music festival, is rolling out an extra day of programming this year in celebration of its 10th anniversary in Hamilton’s downtown core.
“It’s really nice, I have to say,” said festival organizer Tim Potocic, reflecting on the milestone.
“It’s really satisfying.”
The arts and music extravaganza on James Street will be picking up a fourth day, with performances starting on Thursday, Sept. 13 instead of Friday.
Broken Social Scene, who performed in 2011, will be welcomed back to the main stage as the opening night headliner, followed by some other Supercrawl favourites throughout the weekend.
“Part of the concept this year for the 10th anniversary was to try to bring back a headliner or two from every year of the previous nine,” said Potocic. “We were successful in doing that, so we have lots of talent that have come back including Owen Pallett, Wintersleep [and] Elliott Brood.”
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Potocic says depending on the response this year, he might make performances on the Thursday a permanent fixture of the festival.
He says Supercrawl will be expanding into more side streets this year to accommodate nearly 130 vendors.
Last year, Supercrawl brought 220,000 people to the streets of downtown Hamilton, so the hope is that the move will also help thin out the crowds.
On the Saturday, visitors can expect to see an almost entirely female line-up of musicians on the main stage, with the exception of the band Hollerado.
Iskwe, the Pack A.d and Lights are among the acts that will take the stage.
Potocic says it was a conscious decision.
“It’s something that we always have on our mind,” Potocic said, “to make sure that we’re speaking to as many communities as possible and trying to hit as many genres as possible.”
One element that will stay the same, according to Potocic, is the focus on hometown talent with more than 60 per cent of programming on the music side coming from Hamilton.
This includes acts such as Steve Strongman, The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, The Dirty Nil and Alfie Smith.
As he looks ahead to the next 10 years, Potocic says he will be looking to grow the festival in new ways that go beyond adding an extra stage or two.
More dance, theatre and makerspaces are on his mind.
Supercrawl runs from September 13 to September 16.
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