Nearly 2,000 residents spent the afternoon at the inaugural Beats and Eats festival on Saturday, August 2, 2025.
The free day-long event took place over three locations, including Mohawk Park for the Mayor’s Family Fun Zone, Harmony Square and along Colborne Street.
Over at Mohawk Park, residents enjoyed a host of family-friendly activities including jumping around on a bouncy castle, taking a train ride throughout the space, or partaking in games like Plinko, Tic Tac Toss, Gone Fishin’ and more.
With performances from the band Backburner, the opportunity to check out vehicles from Brantford Fire, Brantford EMS and Brantford Police Services, and over a dozen community organization booths to visit, there were plenty of opportunities for fun throughout the afternoon event.
“Before I became Mayor, there was a tradition called the New Year’s Levee, and that was an opportunity for the mayor to interact and invite citizens to come out to an event, but I found that it would generally attract the same people you would see at almost every single event in the city,” said Kevin Davis, Mayor for the City of Brantford. “For this event, I wanted to do something for families, and I wanted to take advantage of the beauty of Mohawk Park and so we decided that this year, we would put all of that together and create this fun zone. It gives me a chance to meet a lot of families I wouldn’t necessarily be able to meet in my daily life, and connect with them in an informal, non-political way.”
The fun continued over in Harmony Square, with a line-up of performances on the main-stage from bands like Fresh Water Funk, Awake and Dreaming, the Dave Ward Band, Checkerboard Floors and Buff Orpington. Six professional athletes from across Canada were also in attendance for a soccer competition, mixing soccer tricks with breakdancing and wowing the crowd.
Just down the street, beside the library at the City’s new parkette stage, residents and out-of-town visitors alike got to enjoy performances from Amanda Braam and the Paper Cranes, Grace San Andres, James N Wilson, Calm Canopy, Tia McGraff and Rebekah Stevens.
Aside from the live music and entertainment, visitors also spent the afternoon supporting around a dozen local businesses in the vendor marketplace, or picking up something to eat from one of the four food trucks on site.
Art Alley along Colborne Street was also alive and thriving. Throughout the day visitors stopped to see a host of live demonstrations from Bronagh Morgan, a chalk artist drawing The Muppets’ Animal and Swedish Chef at Beats & Eats; Hope Flynn a plein air artist; Adelle Norg, a live muralist; Chris Perez, a spray paint muralist and Aoe Girard, a caricaturist.
Kara Davey, Brantford’s Manager of Tourism, Culture and Sport, said she was thrilled to see the downtown come alive during the signature tourism event.
“We have a lot going on today but we’re really excited to be able to activate the downtown core and provide entertainment for our residents, but also bring in a lot of people from outside the community as well,” she said. “Now, this is the first annual summer festival and so in future, we hope to add more days and maybe make it into a two or three day festival, but you have to start somewhere and so we’ll build on it as the years go on. I’m just happy to see how many people are here today with big smiles on their faces, exploring downtown and enjoying themselves.
Davey explained that the event is sponsored by the Brantford Tourism Development Corporation, using the funds from Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT).
The City of Brantford started implementing the four per cent tax in early 2024. It’s typically applied to visitors who stay in hotels, motels and other lodging establishments, and it’s used to generate additional revenue for the municipality to support different tourism initiatives.
“The idea is that when we drive tourism to the city and get more people staying overnight in hotels, it creates more fun things and experiences to do in Brantford,” said Davey.
Brantford residents Amanda and Debbie Neil, who were watching Evelyn McDonald’s aerial hoop performance later in the day, said that while they had hoped for a bit of a larger selection of food trucks, they were overall enjoying the festival and would like to see more.
“We’ve really been enjoying the music, they’ve all been really amazing,” said Amanda.
“I’ve also liked getting to check out the vendors, there’s actually a purse I have my eye on and so I’m definitely ready to spend my money there,” said Debbie, with a laugh. “But it’s nice the city is doing this, we come to a lot of the events in Harmony Square on Friday nights and we’re always trying to check out some local stuff, so it’s nice to see a big event like this.”
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.
