Glenhyrst Art Gallery hosted its third annual Grand River Arts Festival on Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20, 2025.
Ana Olson, Glenhyrst’s Gallery Director, said she and her team always look forward to putting on the big event, saying it’s important to the community.
“We don’t have a lot of events that really support the arts, particularly visual arts, and so we just feel like it’s really important for us to expose the tremendous amount of talent that is in our community, and give these artists a means to be heard, to be seen and to sell their work,” she said. “This is a non-profit event so we don’t make any money from it. We do this for the artists, for their work, and for the art itself and so everything we earn, along with all the sponsorships we get, goes straight back into the festival.
The two-day celebration of the arts began on Friday night with a ticketed, 19-plus evening prelude.
Throughout the event, attendees were invited to walk the grounds and view the work of more than 50 visual artists and makers, grab a bite to eat from one of the on-site food trucks, or enjoy a drink from the licensed garden bar.
The evening event also featured live music from JUNO award-winning artists Tomi Swick and The Sadies on the main stage, along with theatrical productions over in the Coach House.
The first performance celebrated local theatre legend, Martin Smith (who passed away earlier this year), with a double bill of his final works: The Crowning Glory and The Tally Stick Program.
Following the tribute, Heather Kirk, last year’s winner of the ten-minute play competition, returned to showcase her prize winning piece The Interview.
“It was really just an amazing night and we’ve already had so many people contacting us saying that it was the highlight of their summer,” said Olson with a smile.
The big affair continued on Saturday when over a thousand people returned to Glenhyrst for day two of the event.
Over 50 artists were, once again, in attendance sharing their numerous works throughout the afternoon. From fibre art to wood, pottery and photography, paint, and more, there were plenty of art pieces to buy and admire.
Over at the main stage, attendees were treated to a line up of live music from seven artists including Paige Warner, The Jesse Murphy Trio, ShaaMaa, The Low Down Dirty Mojos, The Ollivanders, Matt Welbanks and Static Safari.
Nearby, several visual artists took turns partaking in the Grand Impressionists paint challenge where art from the gallery’s permanent collection was pulled for the artists to create their own impression of the work in timed intervals.
Back in the Coach House, 21 plays that were pre-selected for their quality and originality, were on display for this year’s 10-minute play competition and adjudication. Prizes were later presented to the top three performances and next year’s winner will return during next year’s event.
Just a short distance away at the Gardener’s Cottage, the Brantford Potters’ Guild spent the day presenting live demonstrations outside on the porch and selling handmade one-of-a-kind ceramics from local artisans inside the building.
Big Cityyy Arts was also there with six performance art installations displayed on three plinth stages throughout the grounds. Many visitors stopped by to weave layers into a community costume creation or watch on as Rubyyy Jones stripped off 56 pieces of clothing from their person (a nod to the average person buying 56 new articles of clothing a year).
Paris artist, Lenny Jones, who only came out as an artist in the last year and a half, said she was happy to be at the event and to have an opportunity to show off her multimedia art.
“It’s amazing, I really like the layout and the fact that it’s so spacious,” she said. “The grounds are just gorgeous and I appreciate that Glenhryst has provided this space for us to put our tents up and show our work.”
“My art is quite different and so it’s nice to be able to talk to people about my art and what I’m doing. Not everybody is an art buyer, I respect that and so when I come to an event like this, I’m not necessarily expecting people to buy my work, but it’s nice to have people come up and express an interest,” continued Jones. “Everyone who has come up to me so far has been really wonderful, even the other artists too. There’s just this great camaraderie amongst everyone, you know? We get to stop by, share our thoughts and give each other some moral support and so it’s really just been a lovely experience.”
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.
