The Colborne Love Me Tender Festival
Some great news that we could all use right about now: On the weekend of July 9th to 11th, 2021, a new festival will be launched in Colborne, Ontario. Organizer, Nigel Husing, has booked popular ETAs, Sylvain Leduc from Valleyfield, Quebec, Matt Cage from Belleville, ON, and Eddy Popescu, a UK tribute artist now living in Markham, ON, as headliners for the three day event. Rounding out the spectacular line-up are ETAs Dorian Baxter, aka Elvis Priestly and William ‘Elvis’ Young who will be headlining the Gospel Show on Sunday, July 11th.*
The Colborne Love Me Tender Festival will be held at the Keeler Centre on Division Street in Colborne, ON.
When asked about the festival, Nigel Husing, who in the past has booked shows featuring ETAs Gino Monopoli, Bruce Stewart, and Wisconcin ETA, Garry Wesley, replied with, “I love booking shows and I have always loved Elvis and his music. With CoVid 19 being part of our lives, I had a lot of spare time on my hands, so I decided to try and put together a weekend next July in Colborne. Thanks to you, Carolyn, I have been able to put together a top notch weekend. There has never been an Elvis festival in Colborne, and I am hoping for a great weekend of love and friendship with a group of people gathered together by their love of Elvis’s music and their great memories of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Nigel is in the process of working out details for the entire weekend with plans for “surprise special guests, many vendors, service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a fully licensed bar.” What has been confirmed so far : Matt Cage and Eddy Popescu will be headlining on Friday night. On Saturday there will be an ETA competition** , followed by a Saturday evening show starring Sylvain Leduc and Eddy Popescu, plus the winner of the Saturday contest. On Sunday there will be a morning gospel show with Dorian Baxter and William ‘Elvis’ Young. In the afternoon or evening, a final concert with Matt Cage is to be announced. From what I am told, individual day passes will be sold, plus weekend passes for all events. What an exciting weekend…less than a year away, so mark your calendars and keep following SIDEBURNS Magazine for updates as tickets will sell quickly.
Editor’s Note: It has been a pleasure working with Nigel these past few months. We first met at ETA Garry Wesley’s show last year at East Plains United Church. Nigel generously offered tickets to shows on Garry’s Ontario tour for a SIDEBURNS Magazine contest that was open to our followers; so when Nigel asked if I knew of ETAs who could headline his festival, I was happy to give him my long list of ETAs (only Canadian ETAs were requested due to the unpredictability of CV 19). Nigel was very impressed with the ETA photos and videos I sent for his perusal. The final decision of whom he booked was completely up to him—thankfully, because I would have wanted to book everyone on the list! I wish Nigel the best of luck in the final planning of what is sure to be a not-to-be-missed festival and competition. Fingers crossed that the border will be open long before next July, as we have ETAs, friends and fans in the USA who would love to come to compete and enjoy the festival. Best regards, Carolyn MacArthur.
Thank you to Lori-Anne Crewe for the masterpiece photo of Sylvain, Eddy, and Matt. Superb!
*Updates will be added as information becomes available. Details in this article are accurate as of today’s date.
**Details regarding the competition on Saturday will be announced when they become available.