A Family Affair at the Kempenfest - Barrie's Annual Waterfront Festival

We heard a lot about the Kempenfest festival from our friends living in Barrie, Ontario, but we have never been at the festival for the past three decades as we didn't have too many reasons to visit this city due to our busy lives. Ironically, due to our friend's illness, we have been coming to support him, therefore visiting Barrie on a weekly basis, much more frequently than we have ever been.

On a nice summer afternoon in July this year when we visited Barrie we came upon the festival taking place there. Taking advantage of this good opportunity, we parked our car on a sidestreet downtown and walked towards the festival site. It seemed like we had walked for miles as the festival booths stretched along the Barrie waterfront for almost a couple of km.

There were booths and booths for everything! There was a big area where lots of antique items such as vintage furniture, beautiful wrought iron and wooden garden decorations, books, toys, clocks, clothes, farming tools etc were displayed. Many other booths were selling crafty items, homemade cotton candies, sweets, desserts and mouthwatering food such as BBQ ribs, and burgers of different types, sharwarma , Indian and other ethnic food.

This festival was for everyone! There was an area for families with young children as the festival site included a beatuiful park with many play equipment suitable for the little ones.

There were concerts and contests going on under some beer tents where festival goers could rest, relax, enjoying some beverages while listening to live musical performances or watching a boxing competition.

Sitting under a tent by the water, caressed by gentle breezes and listening to beautiful songs sung by a musician, we let the world go by and taking a break from our everyday worries.

We enjoyed visiting the Kempenfelt Festival very much! How we wished we could have attended this event years earlier so that we could have been with our friend enjoying and having a great time at this festival! RT, Barrie Ont. Canada 072024