The Standard Insurance and Wawanesa Present the 14th Coney Island Music Festival

The Standard Insurance and Wawanesa are proud to once again be presenting sponsors of The Coney Island “Maybe Annual” Music Festival on Sunday July 24th, 2022 in Kenora, Ontario.

We sat down with Ferg Devins from the Coney Fest Organizing Committee to get the details on this year’s event. 

How the Festival Began

According to Ferg Devins, it all started back in 2009 when his neighbours on Coney Island – Deb and Bill Wallace came to him with an idea. Bill was a former bass player for The Guess Who and came back to the island after playing at a music festival in Falcon Lake. Bill went to Ferg and suggested that Coney Island on Lake of the Woods would be the perfect place to hold a similar event. With that, things were soon up and running once a small committee  was formed and they partnered with the Lake of the Woods Arts Collective to raise awareness in the Kenora area.

In 2009, the first Coney Island “Maybe Annual” Music Festival was held on Coney Island with an audience of about 200 people.

Devins jokes that the festival is called “Maybe Annual” because there is always a chance that they might not be able to hold the event. The festival is organized and run entirely by volunteers and it is a free festival so there are no tickets being sold to generate revenue. The festival relies entirely on sponsorships and the generosity of the community year after year.

Since the beginning, The Standard Insurance has joined with Wawanesa to present the Coney Island “Maybe Annual” Music Festival. Ferg Devins says the success of the festival is due in large part to the funding it receives from sponsorships. Starting in 2021, The Standard has facilitated a livestream for the festival so people who can’t make it in-person to the event can still enjoy the music virtually. 

The 14th “Maybe Annual” Music Festival

This year, the Coney Fest Organizing Committee encountered a new challenge. Due to the high water on Lake of the Woods, Coney Island is in no condition to hold this year’s music festival. Docks are underwater and the large green field that held hundreds of spectators each year is currently saturated with rain water. Luckily, with the support of the City of Kenora, the festival has found a new venue downtown at the Kenora Harbourfront.

The festival is still free to the public and will run from 12-5 on the 24th. You just won’t need a boat to get there.

2022 Main Stage Line Up: 

• Tribute to Deb Wallace (Karen Barg & Friends) – 12pm
• Brandi Vezina – 1pm
• Scott Nolan – 2pm
• The 22z – 3pm
• The Honest Heart Collective – 4pm

To learn more about the Coney Island “Maybe Annual” Music Festival, or to make a donation to support the event, you can visit coneyislandmusicfestival.com.