2026 Harrison Festival of the Arts
July 10-19, Harrison Hot Springs, BC
The 2026 Harrison Festival of the Arts took place from July 10 to July 19, 2026, in Harrison Hot Springs, BC. This 47th edition of the festival was one of the best attended in the history of the event, partially due to a strong lineup featuring some beloved Canadian performers and a compelling mix of styles from blues to bhangra, and from big dance bands to intimate, acoustic performances.
Music on the Beach
The majority of music performances are on the ungated Beach Stage, right next to the plaza in Harrison Hot Springs. This is an essential part of the outreach aspect of the festival, in that it does not require the purchase of a ticket to attend. The stage attracts devoted festival attendees alongside a diverse mix of casual listeners, many of whom came to Harrison for the beach and view, and stumbled across the live music. There is music on weekends all afternoon, and on weeknights at 6:30pm.
The first weekend on the beach stage included local favourites of the Vancouver global music scene, Uzume Taiko and Kutapira. From Surrey, the youth dance troupes of Rhangla Punjab Bhangra drew a big crowd on Sunday afternoon in their beautifully coloured giddha attire. Some other highlights were Montreal’s El Balcon and Ottawa’s Angelique Francis, both of whom generated enthusiastic responses from the audience.
Midweek featured a stellar selection of acoustic traditional and folk music acts. Renowned bluegrass singer and guitarist Eli West performed Tuesday evening, followed on Wednesday by lively traditional Quebec group La Deferlance. Thursday evening’s act, Bridghe Chambeuil, stunned the beach stage audience with her very unique, haunting, and mesmerizing take on the Scottish small pipes.
The final weekend had strong Indigenous representation, including Mi’Kmaq Cape Breton fiddler Morgan Toney and his trio, acoustic husband and wife duo Burnstick, and the heavy power trio Gamskimoon, with lyrics in the Sm’algyax language of the Gitga’at Nation of Northwestern British Columbia. The Medusa Quartet was an artistic highlight of the festival, featuring “forgotten fiddles” of different European traditions, instruments that had been sidelined in history and seen as rough or unrefined. Led by a York University music professor, Waleed Kush Afro-Jazz rounded out the weekend with a range of music from several African cultures, from the Sudan to Southern Africa.
Lagoon Stage
On Friday the 19th, leading into our second weekend, for the second year in a row, we changed things up a bit during the day and moved the outdoor shows to a stage with the stunning backdrop of Harrison Lake right next to our artisan market. This was largely to accommodate the 100-voice Chilliwack Rock Choir, who would not fit on the smaller Beach Stage. The day started off with Chinese-Canadian singer-songwriter Tennyson King, and the evening show on the Lagoon Stage was Morgan Toney. Vendors in the artisan market, which runs in front of the stage, appreciated the crowds this placement drew.
Memorial Hall
From July 11 to the end of the festival, there was a performance in the 200-seat Memorial Hall each evening. These are ticketed, full evening shows, with lights, high-quality sound, riser seating, and bar/concession. The opening hall event of the festival was a community barn dance, featuring Cape Breton musician Mary Beth Carty calling and playing guitar, with her trio Marrowbones. The event sold out, and attendees had a great time dancing to an array of traditional dances from Nova Scotia and beyond. The next night, Ontario’s 12-piece My Son the Hurricane hit the stage with an incredibly high-energy set of funk, hip hop, and ska music. Such fun! Then Sunday featured the amazing Hawksley Workman, who held the crowd in rapt attention with his hilarious stories and stunning songwriting.
Midweek carried on with featuring some Canadian music icons, folksinger Connie Kaldor on Monday and blues artist Sue Foley on Wednesday. Both were very successful in terms of audience response. In between, on Tuesday we presented our annual Evening of Theatre. The evening featured a hit of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, Camp Goneaway, which presented an environmental message in a humorous and entertaining way. We also continued our tradition of collaborating with the UFV Department of Theatre, with the inclusion of three short student-directed plays. Thursday evening brought the authentic, top-class New Orleans Funk of The Rumble, led by Chief Joseph Boudreaux Jr.
The final weekend started off on Friday night with a solo performance from Cuban Canadian musician Alex Cuba. Despite the fully Spanish-language repertoire, his performance entranced the audience with his beautiful voice, masterful guitar, melodic songwriting, and humour. Saturday night was another stellar evening show with Benin International Musical, who celebrated West African vodun traditions in their music, through a combination of traditional and contemporary songs. The festival finished off Sunday night with BC’s own The Bills, whose harmonies, instrumental prowess, and songs about BC life brought us all home again after a week of travelling the globe.
Children’s Day
Every year the Harrison Festival sets up a “festival within a festival”, our Children’s Day. For many years it was held on Wednesday; however, this year it was changed to Thursday to avoid conflicting with another event. As in other years, the 2026 Children’s Day featured performances inside and outside the hall, hands-on crafts, and a climbing wall. The event is very affordable, at six dollars for entry to the event, and no extra charge inside.
The featured hall artist was Missy D, a bilingual hip-hop artist from Vancouver whose show exposes children to French in an entertaining way. On the outdoor stage, Norden the Magician made a return visit this year after last year’s successful performance, having parents laughing as much as the kids, and Karima Essa had fun with the kids teaching and demonstrating Bollywood dancing styles.
While we are still figuring out the final numbers, our initial data shows an increase in audience from last year. The day was a little less hot than in 2025, and we assume the date change to avoid conflict may have helped.
…And Visual Arts
The Harrison Festival of the Arts has always been multidisciplinary, and the visual arts are very important. The “pre-festival” began on Thursday the 10th with an opening for this year’s festival exhibit, a retrospective exhibit of work by Toronto artist Soozi Schlanger. This exhibit is a collaboration with the Kent Harrison Arts Council. The exhibit ran until the end of August. Soozi also did a mask-making workshop as part of the artisan market.
An iconic part of the Harrison Festival is the juried artisan market that stretches along the waterfront on the weekends of the festival (and the second Friday). The market had over 40 vendors each day with a large range of handcrafted goods.
