The last Festival was in 2019 but the Festivals for the next two years were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like a lot of activities that are resuming, the Festival may be less exuberant than previous Festivals because some people are still reluctant to venture out. This includes vendors – judging by the pleas coming from the Lions for vendors, there will likely be fewer participants. With no sales for 2 years, it’s likely that some vendors are out of business. But the Entertainment has been booked (program below), a Midway is promised, the beer tent is organized and the Rotary Tent planned. The three day event on the Canada Day long weekend is jointly run by the Lions and Rotary with the Town organizing Canada Day celebrations.
Although the event is a big draw for tourists, many local people also enjoy it.
What we know so far
The Weekend starts on Friday July 1st and runs to Sunday July 3rd.
- Canada Day will include a Parade along King Street, speeches at the Bandshell, Entertainment in the afternoon and Fireworks in the evening
- The Rotary Club will have large tents housing their “HarbourArts” vendors which they describe as including “painters, sculptors, weavers, custom jewellery designers, potters, ceramists, woodcarvers, photographers, metal and stained glass artists, clothing designers and folk artists”.
- The Midway will once again be in Victoria Park and will be open from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm July 1st and 2nd, and until 6:00 pm on July 3rd.
- There will be two places to get a beer: 1) The Bistro on the corner of Division and the Esplanade – enjoy craft beers there. 2) The Lions Beer Tent not far from the Bandshell so you can enjoy the Entertainment (see also map).
- The Lions and Rotary areas will be fenced but not the Midway
- Parking will be no problem if you go to Donegan Park, the Community Centre or the Mall and catch the free shuttle (more on Parking below). Download a map of Road closures and Shuttle details here.
- There’s also a Strawberry Social and Craft Beer evening in the Lions beer tent a day earlier (Thursday June 30).
Entertainment Program
Thursday – June 30th Craft Beer Event
| 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm | Madman’s Window (Beer Tent) |
Canada Day – Friday July 1st – in the Bandshell
| Time | Band Name |
| 1:00 pm | Opening Ceremonies |
| 2:00 pm | Multicultural Cobourg Extravaganza |
| 3:00 pm | Busker Brothers |
| 4:30 pm | Cruisin’ |
| 6:30 pm | Madman’s Window |
| 7:45 pm | The Spirits |
Fireworks are usually at 10:00 pm
Saturday – July 2nd – Victoria Park Bandshell and Beer Tent
| 12:00 pm | Lorn Brown (Bandshell) |
| 1:15 pm | Justin Cooper (Bandshell) |
| 2:30 pm | Cale Crowe (Bandshell) |
| 4:00 pm | Justin Cooper (Beer Tent) |
| 4:45 pm | Big City Lights (Bandshell) |
| 6:00 pm | Justin Cooper (Beer Tent) |
| 7:00 pm | Classic Seger – Bob Seger Tribute (Bandshell) |
Sunday – July 3rd – Victoria Park Bandshell
| 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm | Jeff Biggar & Kyle Tapscott |
| 2:00 pm to 3:45 pm | The Buzz |
| 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm | Madman’s Window |
Parking at the waterfront is different than previous years – go here for a full explanation of Cobourg’s new parking rules but here is the short version:
Parking Summary
- No Parking on King Street on Friday, July 1 from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm
- If you are lucky, find a meter or pay & display location at $5 an hour – maximum $40. (Here’s a map)
- Park at Donegan Park, the Mall or the Community Centre and catch the free shuttle.
- Park on Residential Streets east of Victoria Park with a $40 permit available online here (but the $40 visitor Daily Waterfront Pass is not yet available! This despite a large number of resident passes having already been sold.)
- See this page for more – On Official web site.
Access to the beach is free and there will be lifeguards but no canteen. Instead two food trucks are available.
This Post is repeated on the Cobourg Entertainment web site here.
Resources
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Those who dislike the crowds of families from out of town who enjoy our beach on the weekend might be pleased to hear that Cobourg beach did not make the top 10 list this year. Something for us to think about.
Probably because it was not open in 2020 when other were and opened late in 2021 and no festivals in either years.
What top ten list?
Why should we care?
Hopefully you’re don’t still believe the myth that “beachers” bring economic benefits to Cobourg
You want to know why Cobourg didn’t make the top 10?. Excessive parking fees and rules and regulations about parking that require a lawyer to advise you where it is OK to park. It is a nice beach but it’s small . Lastly the locals have a hate on for beach goers .Miserable people who detest those from out of town.
There is a wag at one of the downtown bars informing tourists to Town that they can enjoy all the free parking along King Street just blocks away from the beach and park. I told my out of town friends that they can park for free on King all summer long. Everyone likes a discount price.
Pass the word Conor.
Maureen; “dislike the crowds of families“
Really! Families! Cobourg has evolved into a geezer ghetto of grumps, gripes and groaners. They are just envious of all those exuberant children screaming in delight where they can run free and wild, instead of being cooped up in a highrise in Scarberia.
Wally,
Use to be old geezers would scream ” get off my grass.”
Now its” get off my beach”
As a kid I would purposely go on the grass to get a rise out of them.
I love watching this blog to see who scream the loudest and be the most annoyed with the public using a public beach
Conor:
Why do you keep misrepresenting the issue and making false claims?
Cobourg’s beach is a good size, much larger than the beachs in Whitby or Oshawa. Further, Cobourgers don’t have a hate-on for beach goers or detest those from out of Town.
This is a product of your warped imagination.
On parking, I agree with you. It’s a mess and needs to be revised.
There was a parking nightmare in Ottawa earlier this year. Perhaps the Town could declare it a threat to the municipality and invoke the Emergency Act.
You don’t think Cobourgians have a hate on for beach goers? Read the comments more often.
To Bad its been clean quiet and peaceful and non polluting for the last couple of yrs why don’t they hold this at the CCC where there is plenty of parking at the industrial park and covered area in the event of rain
Then it wouldn’t be the “WATERFRONT FESTIVAL.” Sandpiper, what did you expect when you moved to a popular waterfront area. When we purchased our condo down at the harbour, we asked what happened down here before we bought. Reminds me of people who live under a flight path to an airport and then complain it is noisy.
We were here before it started
besides with the unresolved parking Dilemma
and inclement weather it
may be a more practical solution Half the visitors park there and get bussed down
to the waterfront
Parking inconvenience only happens on three long weekends a year; 9 days out of 365 days. Quit being so intolerant; toughen yourself up, open a cold one or roll a fatty, and enjoy a welcoming community living on the stiff upper lip of a great lake that provides natural air conditioning.
What the heck is a ‘fatty’? I remember my dear old dad rolling his own cigarettes, back in the fifties…….is that the same thing? 🙂
If your dear old dad was a beatnik, then yes.
The opposite of a spliff. A left hander.A dubbie
I think had you visited the beach more often during a normal regular weekend (before Covid) beginning when schools out ,normally June -earlySeptember, if you think the “inconvenience” only lasts 9 days out of 365 !
Well Bill, I grew up here, and was in the park and on the beach almost every day, including weekends (when schools out, normally June – early September.) I moved to Toronto in my mid 20s, but returned to visit family and friends every second weekend for the next 40 years. Now that I have returned to live here, I experience the park/beach almost every day, even through the winter when I went out to colour snow for artistic purposes.
The inconvenience lasts only 3 long weekends a year and I speak from much much more on the ground experience than you have.
We are blessed to have a terrific PUBLIC beach. Its funny how people are often lured to live in Cobourg in part because of the beach and all the town has to offer, then once they get their “resident card” they can’t stand all the outsiders who use it.
They already had parking at the ccc before Covid 😁
I see//have seen nothing first hand but buses for years established by council for “tourists” in summertime, going back & forth from Northumberland Mall.completely empty.
People visiting for the day(s) with all their beach gear etc.use their cars not buses.
Victoria Park and Beach is not an extension of your private property. It’s public property intended for the pleasure of the public at large.
Wally,
Its public property yes, but you must be a Cobourg tax paying resident. Anything else your not welcome
So Cobourg tax paying residents are not welcome to enjoy public parks in all other municipalities? Only in your oppressive nightmares.
Funnily enough It is called Waterfront Festival and the Beach is a major part of the “waterfront”.
So Cobourg Community Centre does not exactly fit the Bill. You can go to Vendor markets anywhere anytime.
Hope you understand.
So, just change the name!! I’m sure all the residents of that area are very fed up with all the noise, smells and garbage left behind.
I have enjoyed the park and beach all my 75yr life. I enjoyed the noise of exuberant children, the hollering of teens playing volleyball, or the smells and noise of the carnival when it came to Town in the 50s 60s, the jukebox and Saturday night disco dances put on by Louis Stover in The Pav, the current entertainments of Canada Day, Ribfest and all the noise and smells they bring. Those all fed up are free to move to the burbs, or next to a quiet, peaceful, noiseless cemetery.