Tickets now on sale for Mission Folk Music Festival's newly announced 37th edition
Trinidadian-Canadian band Kobo Town, Innu-Acadian artist Shauit, Swedish acoustic-folk band Fränder, and more on the main stage
Haitian-Canadian musician Wesli performing at the 2023 Mission Folk Music Festival. Photo by Michael Wheatley
OVER 20 ACTS are on the just-announced lineup at the 37th annual Mission Folk Music Festival, from Swedish acoustic-folk band Fränder to Canadian-Caribbean calypso outfit Kobo Town.
This year’s festival takes place from July 26 to 28 at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission, with performances by artists from across Canada, the U.S., and Europe. In addition to evening mainstage concerts, there are also collaborative workshops, contra-dancing sessions, interactive Wee Folks activities for young audience members, a Festival Choir, and more music across four daytime stages.
Big Little Lions.
Fränder kicks off the celebration on July 26 with a mainstage concert, showcasing its Nordic sound that draws upon the majesty of northern forests with seductive harmonies, grooves, and rhythms. North Carolina-based social justice lyricist Crys Matthews, Ontario-based singer-songwriter Conor Gains, and Bellingham-based absurdist jazz-blues band Hot Damn Scandal all hit the stage later in the night.
Mainstage concerts open early in the day on July 27 with folk-pop duo Big Little Lions, Helen Austin and Paul Otten’s cross-continent collaboration that’s going on a decade strong (Austin hails from Roysten, Vancouver Island, while Otten’s home base is in Cincinnati, Ohio). The full day of music closes with Juno Award-winning band Kobo Town, delivering a melange of vibrant calypso, reggae, and ska rhythms that recall its frontman Drew Gonsalves’s Trinidadian roots.
Kobo Town.
On July 28, poetic Quebecois folk-rock-blues lyricist Mia Kelly opens the show. Fellow Quebecois artist Shauit performs the last mainstage concert of the year that evening, singing in Creole, French, English, and the First Nations language of Innu-aimun.
More mainstage performers in store over the weekend include PIQSIQ, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Devin Cuddy Band, Jackson Hollow, and Catherine MacLellan. For the full festival experience, attendees can camp in the park during the event. There will also be a Food Court, Artisan Market, and Beer Garden on site to fuel up.
Weekend passes, single day tickets, and evening tickets are now on sale at a discounted early-bird rate until June 3, after which point prices will increase—scoop ’em up now. 
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