Over 800 people attended day two of the South Coast Jazz Music Festival at Brantford’s Sanderson Centre for Performing Arts on Saturday, August 9, 2025.
The South Coast Cultural Society’s 12th annual festival, which featured a line-up of Canadian-based talent, took place over the course of three days and at a variety of venues including Brantford’s Harmony Square on Friday, the Sanderson Centre on Saturday, and the Glenhyrst Art Gallery, as well as the Schofield Bistro in Port Dover, on Sunday.
Saturday’s show kicked off with a performance from Juliann Kuchocki, Shannon Butcher, Avery Raquel and Queen Mary the Artist, as well as Jesse Murphy and Eric St Laurent on guitar, for Smokey Joe’s Café’s “I’m a Woman,” before moving on to Jesse Murphy with “Beg and Plead.”
Master of ceremonies for the evening, Laura Fernandez, then hit the stage on the piano for her original song “Mi Amor,” which was followed by Butcher’s song “Lola and Sue.”
Kuchocki, founding director and producer of the South Coast Jazz Music Festival, then joined Brantford’s own David Griffin for a rendition of Adele’s “Easy on Me.” Griffin went on to also perform Frank Sinatra’s “The Best Is Yet to Come,” and Billy Vera & The Beaters’ “At This Moment.”
Up next, audience members enjoyed two performances, one from Avery Raquel, a Brantford born singer-songwriter, and another from Queen Mary the Artist.
During intermission, Michael Bell and Kevin Barrett kept the music going out as they entertained guests out in the Sanderson Centre lobby.
Outside, Port Dover residents Roxanne Moffat and Malcolm Smith, said it was their first time ever attending the South Coast Jazz Music Festival.
“We didn’t realize there would be this much diversity tonight, I just loved Laura Fernandez’ song, I wasn’t expecting that,” said Smith. “This is just really, really good entertainment.”
“I also really liked that young girl, Avery, and Jesse Murphy of course, we go to see him all the time in Port Dover,” added Moffat.
The two also said this was their first ever time at the Sanderson Centre.
“What a beautiful theatre, the inside is incredible,” said Smith. “We haven’t been to downtown Brantford in years so it’s nice to see how much it’s really changed and improved. I also think it’s a great chance to come out and support the local businesses down here, we’ll definitely be going across the street for a few refreshments after.”
As intermission wrapped up, audience members headed back inside to find their seats and settle in for the evening’s headliner, Lighthouse. A legendary Canadian rock band, Lighthouse first came onto the scene in 1969 and is known for fusing rock, jazz and classical music. Between 1970 and 1974, the band was awarded four Juno Awards, four gold albums and Canada’s first platinum album for their album Lighthouse Live!
But first, Kuchocki got on stage to thank her team for all of their hard work, the sponsors who helped make the festival a success, and the audience members who showed up.
“Thank you so much. It takes a village and we had one this year, thankfully,” she said. “This has been beautiful and amazing, but it’s been very difficult as well, so I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for buying our tickets and for coming out.”
Throughout the second half of the show, the Lighthouse had the audience grooving in their seats to Lighthouse’s hit songs like “Pretty Lady,” “Good Day,” “You Girl,” “Silver Bird,” “1849,” “Hats Off (To the Stranger),” “Sunny Days,” “Broken Guitar Blues,” “One Fine Morning” and “Rockin’ Chair.”
By the end of the set and into the encore, every audience member in the house was out of their seats and happily dancing along.
“It was pretty magical seeing everybody just stand up, clapping and moving and dancing, because that’s what it’s all about; happy people enjoying the music,” said Kuchocki.
She later said that a festival of such caliber ust wouldn’t have been possible without all of their sponsors.
“We had some incredible sponsors who really helped make this happen, our main sponsors being Ontario Creates, the Ontario Arts Council, Brant Community Foundation and the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, who were actually brought on towards the end because they wanted to make the other three shows complimentary to the community,” said Kuchocki. “Between them and our incredible radio and media sponsors, as well as all of our amazing supporting sponsors, we were able to not only put this on, but to capture the whole performance so that we can put it out on Video on Demand in the future. I know times are really tough for everyone right now but all of those sponsors, especially the supporting ones, really deserve a big shoutout.”
Now that this year’s festival is over, Kuchocki said that her and the South Coast Cultural Society will soon be buckling in to apply for grants, and are looking for sponsors to help get the television side of the things up and moving.
“We’re looking to find sponsors that would like to put their name on the TV edition, which will be on different TV and Video on Demand platforms. We have those platforms ready to go that are waiting, but we just need to find sponsors to help us edit and produce all of this because not only do we have the footage for Saturday, but from previous years as well,” she said. “There’s a lot of content that we’ve collected and that next step is just finding sponsors because putting on something with this kind of caliber takes sponsorship dollars and funding, you know? It’s a really great opportunity for anyone or any business or corporation that cares to have big branding opportunities and be affiliated with the arts and Juno, Grammy, Order of Canada, Walk of Fame, ASL, Indigenous, new generation Canadian artists.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
