Canadiana Fest 2025: A Celebration of Music, Food, and Culture in Kalamazoo MI!

Experience the Best of Canada at Canadiana Fest!

Get ready to immerse yourself in the vibrant sights, sounds, and flavors of Canada at Canadiana Fest 2025! Join us at the Arcadia Creek Festival Site in Kalamazoo, MI on Saturday, September 20, 2025 from 3:30 pm until 10 pm, for a day filled with live music, delicious Canadian cuisine and beverages, and exciting cultural activities. Don't miss out on this unique celebration of Canadian heritage and hospitality!

Your attendance also benefits;

South Michigan Food Bank , Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes AND new in 2025, our Canadian beneficiary the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative making this truly a CAN-AM Peace Jam

YOU MUST HAVE A TICKET TO ENTER

FREE ADMISSION this year! Join us for free or contribute if you’re able. We'll also take at-will donations at the door.

Reserve tickets either way so we know how many to expect. Be a part of this unforgettable experience!

Your generosity and kindness makes the festival possible for everyone to enjoy.

SURPRISE CONTESTS! Reserve your tickets now and get entered into a drawing for a private Lake Michigan sailboat cruise on the Mary Rose courtesy of Fresh Coast Sailing! We'll announce the winner at the Fest, and you must be present to claim your prize.  

NEW! Reserve your ticket and be entered to win a Year Long Yard Program by Pest Control Experts | Pest Pros of Michigan a spray program to protect your home from fleas, ticks and mosquitos! OR dare we say MOOSEQUITOS? Go to their booth for a second chance to win!

2025 Music Lineup:

Many of our entertainers will be ASL-interpreted again this year! We had great feedback last year, and are so pleased to offer this again in 2025. 

Rock Rx: Rock Rx (rockrxband.com) presented by Centre Smiles Dental Hailing from the Kalamazoo area, this high-energy cover band returns again in 2025 doing their renditions of the best Canadian Rock, Pop and R&B. They make the audience feel like they are part of the band, literally. Don’t be surprised if you have a mic in your face during the show, as you sing along to one of your favorite songs. 

Cécilia: Cécilia is coming to us all the way from Quebec. Widely recognized as three of Canada's finest musicians, Timi Turmel, Erin Leahy, and Louis Schryer will bring their rollicking sounds of traditional, Celtic and Quebecois music. Bring your dancing shoes!

Erin Leahy will also be doing an Acadian Step Dancing Workshop at 4:30pm at the festival in the presentations tent- get ready to Clog, Jig and Reel to live fiddle before their performance and then get up and show us your stuff!

John Louis Good: Hailing from just down I-94 in Jackson, John Louis Good will bring the music of Canadian folk icon Stompin' Tom Connors! You won't want to miss this!

Woodland Stream Drum & Song, MoniFaith (Monica Padula) piano, and Deanna Bush, Flautist - We are so excited to have these Indigenous artists join us for our opening ceremonies!

Kalamazoo Pipe Band: The Kalamazoo Pipe Band is dedicated to teaching, performing & promoting highland bagpipe music in Kalamazoo, MI. Originating in the 1950’s, they have had the honor of piping at many Michigan ceremonies and events. Their heart thumping drum and heart wrenching pipes will move you and invoke the spirit of Canada’s Commonwealth origins. 

2025 Food Vendors:

Local and regional food vendors will offer delicious takes on Canadian Cuisine and local favorites.

• Best Coast Provisions
• Pac Brazilian Pizza
• MotorMouthMI
• American Culinary Federation of Kalamazoo and Battle Creek
• Grand River Brewery
• More to come as we get closer to the Fest!

Beer and Beverage Garden operated by the Kalamazoo Experiential Learning Center. Enjoy delicious craft beers and your favorite Canadian imports. We will also have a great selection of imported Canadian wines available via our exclusive offerings from Platinum sponsor Pelee Island Winery, Canada's oldest winery, with tastings led by Canadian celebrity sommelier Renée Sferrazza!

• NEW IN 2025- Enjoy creative and delightful no-alcohol cocktails featuring Platinum sponsor Clearly Canadian sparkling waters and Platinum sponsor Pow Wow Energy Drinks. The Clearly O'Canada Smoked Maple Mocktail is just one we'll have on offer and all profits on the sale of this drink will be made to a Canadian Fire Relief Fund (last year was the Jasper Fire Relief) ! Also experience the Pow Wow Tropical Mock-EH-ito! a non alcoholic tequila taste sensation mimicking a Mojito! Come taste enticing treatments and unique flavor profiles and support the fest and fire relief!
• LIMITED SUPPLY GET YOURS EARLY!

2025 Activities SO FAR!

World Champine Poutine Competition Local and regional restaurants and food trucks will compete to create the best Poutine in the World!

Butter Tart Competition Open to all who want to bring their best version of this sweet Canadian classic, professional bakers and home bakers both! Bring a dozen buttertarts to the information booth and they will be judged by a panel of bakers, Canadians, and buttertart lovers. We’ll announce the winners from the stage in the afternoon! Go to our website at Buttertart Bakeoff Entry Form to register, all fees go to support foodbanks.

Children’s Culture Tent: Join us at the children’s tent for arts, crafts and cultural and educational activities about Canada!

How Canadian ARE YOU? Join host Mara Schrock of the Game Show Experience | Kalamazoo Game Show Experience who will challenge you with Canadian Trivia for chances to win PRIZES!

Workshop Tent: New in 2025, we will have several workshops going on throughout the event with all manner of fascinating topics:

• Genealogist Janine Cotugno from the Kalamazoo Valley Geneaological Society speaks on “Finding Your Canadian Roots”.
• Canadian children's author Jocelyn Watkinson will read from her book "The Three Canadian Pigs" and Melissa Baril of Caribou a Lunettes will read from a French or Cree language children’s story in the presentations tent.
• Rendez-vous Détroit’s Elizabeth Bourne will speak on celebrating Detroit's French Canadian history and her own experience of being a French Canadian in Michigan.
• Dr. Daniel McFarlane, one of the world's leading authorities on the Great Lakes, will present "The 7th Wonder of the World; How Canada and the U.S. Shaped Niagara Falls".
• Erin Leahy of the band Cécilia will lead a traditional Ottawa Step Dancing workshop! Learn the fundamental mechanics of French-Canadian step dancing as well as how the style developed historically in Quebec and Ontario. Erin will teach you “step by step” to dance a reel and how it is integrated with Traditional Music.
• The Scottish Pipe Band and Dancers will lead a traditional Canadian Scottish country dance with the Quinn Irish Dancers.
• Wyatt Szpliet, Mno Mijem Sovereignty Coordinator of the Gun Lake Tribe, will give a presentation on Anishinaabe maple sugaring.

Canadian Sports Center! Sponsored by Premier Athletics – For Youth Development!

Come out and enjoy skills workshops, experiences and learn the history of these sports! We will have:

• Curling! sponsored by the Kalamazoo Curling Club. Come throw a rock for charity! All proceeds to be donated to local food banks to fight hunger.
• Lacrosse! Canada’s official winter sport! Meet the athletes and coaches of many local teams like Kalamazoo United, Portage Central/Portage Northern, and Kalamazoo College.
• Basketball! Invented by a Canadian and staffed with WMU Bronco basketball players!
• Hockey! Come learn street hockey led by NCAA Champion WMU Bronco hockey players!

Try the Royal Canadian VIP Experience and enjoy the Fest in style! BE A PATRON OF THE FEST

WEAR YOUR FAVORITE "CANADIAN TUXEDO" (jeans on top and bottom) AND STRUT YOUR STUFF!

• NO WAIT GATE- Enter at the west gate on Koopsen’s Alley for NO WAITING! 
• Tasting Ticket includes up to three tasting pours of Canadian varietal wines!
• We will have Ontario wines exclusively from Platinum sponsor Pelee Island Winery, Canada's oldest winery, with tastings led by Canadian celebrity sommelier Renée Sferrazza!
• DEMOS AND TASTING; Enjoy creative and delightful no-alcohol cocktails featuring Platinum sponsor Clearly Canadian sparkling waters and Platinum sponsor Pow Wow Energy Drinks. The Clearly O'Canada Smoked Maple Mocktail is just one we'll have on offer and all profits on the sale of this drink will be made to a Canadian Fire Relief Fund (last year was the Jasper Fire Relief) ! Also experience the Pow Wow Tropical Mock-EH-ito! a non alcoholic tequila taste sensation mimicking a Mojito! Come taste enticing treatments and unique flavor profiles and support the fest and fire relief!
• NOSH on delicious finger foods and bites across the day by local American Culinary Federation chefs, poutine from Legacy Table in downtown Kalamazoo, and a grill station from Jones Dairy , traditional Canadian Peameal Bacon by Canadian Chef and Fest Event Director, Channon Mondoux Chef Channon's Eclectic Kitchen – Eclectic Kitchen exclusively for VIP ticket holders! More will be added as they come!
• POSH private luxury portable bathrooms, covered tables and seating area. 
• No wait dedicated craft beer trailer, exclusive access to the stage with outdoor cocktail tables and seating. 
• Meet and greet with the bands.
• And MUCH MORE YET TO COME!

Follow our socials for up to the minute announcements!

• Canadiana Fest on Facebook
• Canadiana_Fest on Instagram and Threads
• https://www.canadianafest.FUN