The 51st Season of the Blyth Fesival will be a celebration of community and Canadian culture.
Artistic Director Gill Garratt said the upcoming season is set to be another unforgettable chapter in a rich tradition of Canadian storytelling.
"There's lots of folks now talking about, what is Canada and what we love Canada? What does Canada mean? And for me, the Blyth Festival has put 51 years of putting Canadian artists, and Canadian art, and Canadian stories on stage. This is a place where we celebrate what Canada is and tell our story," Garratt said. "So in some ways I feel like this is a really important year for us to gather together in Memorial Hall and really think about that very question, right? And celebrate that wonderful thing that is only, only in Canada."
Garratt said the 2025 season will explore history, identity, and local culture.
"Charged" is a poetic play based on letters exchanged across the sea, accompanied by live Irish music. "Powers and Gloria" by Keith Ross explores generational differences in a furniture empire. "Quiet in the Land" by Ann Chislet, set in an Amish village, examines community responsibility. "Radio Town" by Nathan How tells the story of Doc Cruikshank, a local broadcaster who built a community through radio station CKNX.
Garratt credited the continued success of the festival to community, pointing to the recently constructed outdoor Harvest Stage as a great example of that.
"It might look like a theatre, but this is actually a community builder, that's what this is. That's what we do. We're here to build community," stressed Garratt. "I think especially living in times where people feel so disconnected from each other."
Garratt explained that when the show begins in Blyth, everybody stops staring at their phone, and instead spends time together enjoying the same story.
"We all sit down and spend a couple of hours together in one room hearing the same story, and hearing each other laugh," he added. "Having that kind of connection is so important to community."
Each year, the event brings audiences from across Ontario and beyond, proving that local stories have a universal appeal.
"And you think about the Village of Blyth, a village of 1,000 people, and last summer, we brought 25,000 people though that door," he exclaimed. "That's incredible. "