Sudbury music festival announces this year's lineup

The Strumbellas, Zachary Richard, Sloan, and Mountain City Four are headlining this year’s edition of Northern Lights Festival Boreal, organizers announced Friday.

NLFB, Canada’s longest consecutively running music festival, runs July 6-9 at Bell Park in Sudbury. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022.

"I think that it's really important that northern Ontario has access to wonderful live music and beautiful concerts,” said Tessa Balaz, the festival’s executive director.

“Obviously, Sudbury is very attractive in the summertime so it's easy for us to get people to be tourists and come up north to listen to these amazing bands -- and a lot of this roster is Canadian, as well.”

Balaz said the lineup also features some “incredible” homegrown talent.

Sudbury francophone artist Stef Paquette was the featured artist at Friday’s announcement. He will be performing at the festival with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra.

Last year, the festival celebrated 50 years and officials said they want to continue NFLB’s unique legacy supporting music and arts.

"What's unique about our festival versus many other festivals is the diversity of our lineup,” said Kevin Despot, the festival’s board chair.

“We have local artists, we have francophone artists, Indigenous artists. And it's a unique experience for anybody that attends the festival just to see such a cross section of different artists.”

Organizers said full festival passes are currently on sale at a discounted rate until Monday.