Stan Rogers Folk Festival

The Stan Rogers Folk Festival, informally known as Stanfest, is an annual music festival held in Canso, Nova Scotia.

Established in 1997 in honour of the late Canadian folk singer and songwriter Stan Rogers, the festival bills itself as “Canada’s Songwriter Festival”, showcasing Canadian and worldwide grassroots musicians in all genres. The festival has won a number of East Coast Music Awards and attracts over 10,000 music fans each year.[1]

The Stan Rogers Folk Festival takes place on the last weekend of July.

Enjoying music and friends at an outdoor festival is one of life’s most basic joys. Thousands of the Stanfest faithful do this every year in Canso. Over 30 artists and groups gather to celebrate songwriting and to perform 100 shows on 4 festival stages.  For the maritime music aficionado, it should be noted that most of the artists appearing at this festival are strictly folk performers; there are precious few maritime-themed musical acts, despite the namesake singer-songwriter’s fame on the “shanty” scene.