In the early part of this decade, the southern Ontario music-festival road trip was a nice way to support smaller-scale events and communities outside the GTA that were still recovering from the economic aftershocks of the pandemic. More recently, it’s become a politically conscientious travel option for music fans who don’t want to spend their tourism dollars in the UFCA — I mean, USA — so long as we’re mired in a trade war.
But now that the price of gas is threatening to creep past the $2-per-litre mark, even the prospect of a short-haul getaway seems a little more forbidding. That said, many of the out-of-town festivals highlighted below offer great value that helps offset the extra pinch at the pump. They also present opportunities to catch some premier acts that won’t be making Toronto pit stops this summer. And, in at least one instance, you have the chance to experience internet-breaking polka-dot-core duo Angine de Poitrine without having to fork out more than $1,000 on StubHub for a pair of tickets to their waaaay-sold-out Mod Club shows in July.
Lakeshore Music & Arts Festival
Spencer Smith Park, Burlington
Approximate drive time from Toronto: One hour. You could also ride the GO Train to Burlington station and take a 10-minute rideshare to the park.
What to expect: For 45 years, the Sound of Music Festival transformed Burlington’s waterfront into a free multi-day fun fair each June. That tradition will continue this month under a different name and pared-down two-day format, but with the same mission of showcasing familiar Canadian favourites and up-and-coming artists alike. The first night is headlined by local stomp-clap hitmakers Walk Off the Earth and Toronto-via-Saskatoon indie-soul phenom Katie Tupper. Night 2 turns up the volume with classic-rock torchbearers the Trews and pop-punk power trio the Dirty Nil.
Mariposa Folk Festival
Approximate drive time from Toronto: Two hours.
Ticket price: Single day passes start at $154; adult weekend passes are $239.
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes.
What to expect: Though Mariposa is one of Canada’s longest-running folk festivals, its more recent programming has been rooted in the idea that you can’t really tell hacky-sacking hippies and bearded indie hipsters apart, so why not appeal to both? This year, that translates into a lineup that sees Pitchfork-generation figureheads Father John Misty and Sharon Van Etten rubbing shoulders with rebel troubadours Billy Bragg and Steve Earle and blues legend Taj Mahal.
Four Winds Music Fest
Riverstone Retreat, Durham
Approximate drive time from Toronto: Two and a half hours.
Ticket price: Day passes start at $70; camping passes are $203 for two days and $256 for three days.
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes.
What to expect: Now in its fourth year, this intimate camp-out festival favours rustic sounds befitting its bucolic nature-reserve setting, flanked by forests, farmhouses and the Saugeen River. Roots-rock supergroup Blackie & the Rodeo Kings will bring their Band-style bonhomie to a bill that also includes a solo set from Blackie co-founder Tom Wilson; the soulful, gale-force pipes of Begonia; and next-generation indie offspring Georgia Harmer (niece of Sarah) and Sammy Tweedy (son of Jeff).
Because Beer Craft Beer Festival
Approximate drive time from Toronto: One hour. You can also take the GO Train to West Harbour station; the festival site is a 10-minute walk.
Ticket price: $67 for single-day passes; $111 for the weekend.
Free for kids 12 and under? No. In fact, they can’t get in at all — this is a 19-plus event.
What to expect: Beer (duh) — hundreds of varieties, in fact, from more than 30 regional operations, complemented by a boisterous soundtrack to encourage continuous imbibing. The Friday-night lineup is like the Woodstock of GTHA-era cover bands, as human jukeboxes Dwayne Gretzky, Born in the Eighties and Wing Night (the Band) will have you swilling to the oldies. Saturday is a power-chord-palooza with Canrock titans Big Wreck, dance-metal duo Death from Above 1979, melodic punk purveyors the Flatliners and more.
Tall Pines Music Festival
The Muskoka Wharf, Gravenhurst
Approximate drive time from Toronto: Two and a half hours.
Ticket price: $111 for a day pass; $179 for a weekend pass.
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes.
What to expect: If one were to make a list of the greatest Canadian campfire classics, the Tragically Hip’s “Bobcaygeon” would no doubt be at or near the top. And while the prospect of seeing the Hip in 2026 is an obvious impossibility, you can catch guitarist Paul Langlois this summer in the heart of cottage country, where he’ll be playing songs off his new solo album, “Smooth Rock Falls” — along with a few Hip standards, to be sure. Langlois headlines Friday night along with art-pop eccentric Hawksley Workman. Saturday’s docket is topped by ’90s MuchMusic mainstays the Tea Party and Odds.
Hillside Festival
Guelph Lake Island, Guelph
Approximate drive time from Toronto: 90 minutes.
Ticket price: Day passes start at $99; weekend passes are $229.
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes.
What to expect: While most niche festivals tend to lean into a particular genre or era, Hillside has thrived for more than 40 years with an anything-goes approach to programming that channels the free-form spirit of an overnight campus-radio show. So while it’s hardly lacking for Canadian indie icons (Cowboy Junkies, Stars), celebrated singer-songwriters (Charlotte Cornfield, comedian-turned-musician Mae Martin) and the buzziest of buzz bands (the aforementioned Angine de Poitrine), it’s also the only festival in Ontario where you’ll find British-Guyanese dub legend Mad Professor, Congolese Afrofuturist collective Fulu Miziki and Sudanese-American funk fusionist Sinkane.
Kitchener Blues Festival
Multiple stages in and around Victoria Park in downtown Kitchener
Approximate drive time from Toronto: 90 minutes.
What to expect: Still like that old-time rock ’n’ roll? This four-day street fest features Texan roadhouse veterans the Fabulous Thunderbirds alongside a cast of Cancon perennials (Sass Jordan, Goddo, Nick Gilder & Sweeney Todd), as well as tributes to Steely Dan, Tom Waits and the Band’s “Last Waltz.”
Boots and Hearts Music Festival
Approximate drive time from Toronto: 90 minutes.
Ticket price: Day passes start at $211; weekend passes are $424 (not including camping pass).
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes (but only to general-admission areas).
What to expect: Canada’s biggest country music festival now boasts an Alberta offshoot that’s debuting this summer, an expansion that suggests the genre’s stranglehold on the pop mainstream isn’t loosening anytime soon. This year’s lineup for the OG Ontario edition features millennial favourites — like the Chicks and Rascal Flatts — that helped lay the foundation for the current crossover moment, while the opening-night headlining appearance of the Jonas Brothers suggests that country and pop have become so intertwined, they’re essentially one and the same.
Cicada Music & Arts Festival
Henley Island, St. Catharines
Approximate drive time from Toronto: 80 minutes.
Ticket price: $94 for day passes; $148 for weekend passes.
Free for kids 12 and under? Yes.
What to expect: Saying goodbye to summer is made a little easier thanks to Cicada Festival, which takes advantage of (or rolls the dice on) warm early-October temperatures to deliver one last dose of splendour in the grass before it’s time to pull out the parkas. If you’re unable (or can’t afford) to catch local synth-rock stars Metric at their August RBC Amphitheatre date, here’s another chance to see them in a much cosier setting, alongside fellow indie lifers Wintersleep, folk-soul troubadour Bahamas and alt-pop duo USS.
