Culture of Hamilton, Ontario

Culture of Hamilton, Ontario.

Hamilton hosted several cultural and craft fairs since the 1960s, notably Festival of Friends[1], which made it a major tourist destination. The Festival of Friends, founded in 1975, is the largest annual free music event in the country. Burton Cummings, Lighthouse and Bruce Cockburn have been among the main stage headliners at Gage Park. WestJet is a major sponsor of the festival. The Winona Peach Festival[2] will be celebrating its 40th-anniversary in the summer of 2007; established in 1967. 4-time winner of the "Top 50 Ontario Festivals" from Festivals and Events Ontario. The 2006 attendance was in excess of 230,000 and attracts attendees from Ontario the Western New York area. It's a food and beverage festival that includes free entertainment, arts & crafts, a midway, pageant and car show that features vintage vehicles, hot rods & classics. Hamilton is also home to the Mustard Festival[3] because Hamilton is home to the largest miller of dry mustard in the world. It's held annually at Ferguson station at Hamilton's International Village and is another summertime food & beverage festival that features some of the top Blues and Jazz acts in the region.

Hamilton became a moderately important film and television adjunct of the Toronto film market. Notable actors from Hamilton are Second City Television alumni Eugene Levy, Martin Short and Dave Thomas. All three attended McMaster University along with John Candy.

Local TV station CHCH introduced Canadians to Smith & Smith, which featured Steve and Morag Smith (the former better known from his stint as Red Green). The Hilarious House of Frightenstein was a Canadian children's television series which was also produced by CHCH in 1971. It was syndicated to television stations across Canada and the United States, and occasionally still appears today in some TV markets. A quirky sketch comedy series, the show's cast included Billy Van, Fishka Rais, Guy Big, Mitch Markowitz, Vincent Price and Julius Sumner Miller. Van, in fact, played the vast majority of the characters. 130 episodes of the series were made, in one single nine-month span of time starting in 1971. "Don Cherry's Grapevine" began airing on CHCH TV in the 1980's and shot on location on Main street West. CHCH also produced local broadcasts such as Tiny Talent Time and The Party Game.

Hamilton also hosts several key venues operated by the Hamilton Entertainment and Convention Facilities (HECFI) organization. Among these facilities is Hamilton's largest venue, Copps Coliseum, a 19,000-seat enclosed arena that serves as the home for the Hamilton Bulldogs(AHL) ice hockey club and routinely features a variety of sport, commercial and concert events throughout the year. Notable artists who have performed at Copps Coliseum include U2, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Aerosmith. Further events can be found just down the road at Hamilton Place, a 2,100 seat performing arts theatre located less than a two-minute walk from the Coliseum. Hamilton Place is the home of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and boasts one of the leading architectural designs for acoustics in Canada. Notable performances include the annual festive production of 'The Nutcracker' and a number of internationally-recognized entertainers such as Tom Jones, Bill Cosby, Hall & Oates and Billy Connolly.