The 2024 edition of the Lightfoot Days Festival got off to a resounding and emotional start Thursday night with a packed Orillia Opera House to celebrate the return of the Lightfoot Band.
The last time the band played the Orillia Opera House was for Lightfoot's 80th birthday, in 2018, with Gord himself singing and celebrating in his hometown. This was a different occasion, with no Gord — who passed away in 2023 — but instead guitarist and singer Andy Mauck taking centre stage, singing the Lightfoot songs his fans hold so dear.
“I have idolized Gord and this band since 1976. I am the luckiest person in the world, to be here playing these songs with these incredible musicians,” he said during the show.
Most of the members of the Lightfoot Band played with Lightfoot for decades, with bass player Rick Haynes taking the Lightfoot longevity prize, having started playing with Gord in 1968.
“We believe Gord was the greatest songwriter of all time,” Haynes said.
“We don’t want to make a gazillion dollars,” chimed in keys player Mike Heffernan, who had played with Lightfoot since 1980. “We just want to keep Gord’s music going as long as we can.”
The Lightfoot Days organizing committee was thrilled with the full house and the audience reaction to the band.
The band played all the Lightfoot hits and classic tunes, including Shadows, If You Could Read My Mind, Sit Down Young Stranger, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and more.
After they had received a standing ovation from an ecstatic crowd, they came back with the encore that Lightfoot himself liked to choose: Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Once again, the audience was overjoyed.
“No disrespect intended to any other performers who promote themselves as Gordon Lightfoot tribute artists, but there is only one Lightfoot Band,” said festival committee chair, John Winchester.
“Along with their leader, these are the musicians who recorded with Gordon, toured with Gordon, and helped create 'The Lightfoot sound', as Gordon called it." said Winchester.
“I have been a Gordon Lightfoot fan for 55 years and carrying on his musical legacy is an honour and privilege.”
Festival vice-chair, Daphen Mainprize, echoed those sentiments.
“Having been curator of the Stephen Leacock Museum National Historic Site in the 1990s I have a long-standing, personal commitment to preserve and present our community's history and stories," said Mainprize.
"My first interaction with Lightfoot was in Grade 8 when we put on a museum presentation. I was selected to reach out to Gordon's mom for an artifact. She let us present his first guitar, which I had to set up and write about," Mainprize recalled.
The Lightfoot Days re-launch was the vision of the late Karen Hilfman-Millson, former minster at St. Paul’s United Church, which was Lightfoot’s childhood church. Hilfman-Millson did several live interviews at the church with Lightfoot through the years and built a strong relationship with him.
"When Karen approached me to work with the team she was building, to re-launch Lightfoot Days, of course I accepted," said Mainprize.
"I knew Karen was unwell and was glad, along with our small team of people, to do the heavy lifting under her guidance," she explained.
“Watching Karen leave, knowing how much she wanted to stay, and had so much more to give, was very hard on all of us. I knew her pretty well, but others in the group, not so much, but we all knew she was the glue binding us together to continue her vision. She had it all mapped out in her mind. That she trusted us gave us courage to carry on," said Mainprize.
“She became a touchstone for Gordon as well. He felt safe in letting her interview him. Those interviews are powerful and courageous. It speaks volumes of why Gord gave her so much of his time, when he had so little time left," Mainprize said. "He knew his words and his thoughts would be translated with honour and respect.”
Lightfoot Days 2024 has expanded to four days of music and Lightfoot love.
Today, the Lightfoot Band is offering music workshops at Creative Nomad Studios during the day. On Friday evening, 'Gordon Lightfoot: Stories and Music' will take centre stage, featuring all five members of The Lightfoot Band, in addition to Bernie Fiedler, Kim Lightfoot, Wanda Hawkins, Steve Eyers, and John Swartz, with Linda Leatherdale as MC, and music by Steve McEown, Don James, and Steve Porter — also happening at Creative Nomad Studios.
As there is limited space in the venue, wristbands will be given out at 5 p.m. in front of Creative Nomad (23 Mississaga St. W.) for this very special evening.
All weekend long, the Lightfoot Days Folk Crawl will be taking place, with live music at multiple venues in town. And Mayor Don McIsaac, who spoke briefly at Thursday night's event, will once again be raising a flag and proclaiming Gordon Lightfoot Day, on Saturday at the site of Lightfoot's bust outside the Orillia Opera House.
Another highlight, on Sunday, the last day of the festival, will take place at St. Paul’s United Church, which will be having a special Lightfoot service at 10:30 a.m. Part of the service will include the Orillia Community Children’s Choir singing along with a recording of a young, boy soprano Gordon Lightfoot, which was discovered in 2023.
For the full schedule of events for Lightfoot Days 2024, go here or check out the festival’s social media here.
