The Halifax Urban Folk Festival (HUFF) is a celebration of songs, the people who write and sing them, and the stories surrounding their creation. It takes place annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia – a city seeping with songwriting talent – during the last week of August, through Labour Day weekend.
The festival is the brainchild of Mike Campbell, current programmer of The Carleton (generally accepted as the best live music venue east of Montreal) and former MuchMusic host of Mike & Mike’s Excellent X-Canada Adventures, MuchEast and Going Coastal. Launched in 2010 as a one-club showcase, it has grown over the following years to include a multitude of venues on both sides of the harbor and featured hundreds of artists from all parts of Canada, the United States, Australia and Europe.
The “Urban” in HUFF refers to the fact that it takes place in a city, rather than a field in the country, and allows us to use locations that aren’t at the mercy of our often unpredictable coastal weather and support live music year-round.
One of the festival’s signature initiatives is the “All Star” band concept: we utilize our most valuable asset – our local musicians – to form fully-rehearsed bands for many of the headliners we bring to town; that allows ticket holders a full rock’n’roll experience from iconic international artists like Garland Jeffreys, Elliott Murphy, Dwight Twilley, Tift Merritt, Soul Asylum’s David Pirner, Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, Cracker’s David Lowery, Robyn Hitchcock, Chuck Prophet, Steve Poltz, Willie Nile, Alejandro Escovedo, Lilly Hiatt, Lloyd Cole – many of them making their first-ever appearances in Halifax.
Add to that list Canadians like The Weakerthans’ John K. Samson, Hey Rosetta’s Tim Baker, The Pursuit of Happiness’s Moe Berg, 54-40’s Neil Osborne, The Philosopher Kings’ Jarvis Church, Lindi Ortega, Tom Wilson, Danny Michel and locals like Joel Plaskett, Rose Cousins, Matt Mays, Erin Costelo, Adam Baldwin and many others and you can appreciate why our little festival has grown into a beloved event over the years.
Join us in 2022 as we celebrate 13 great years of the Halifax Urban Folk Festival, we guarantee you’ll be glad you did!