Culture in the Community

A strong network of cultural contacts exists here, including legends of the Canadian press and movers and shakers of today’s media, seasoned filmmakers, celebrity chefs and young musicians. It’s a diversity of talent and culture that keeps a low profile, but is seen out in force at events like Cinefest night at the Regent Theatre.

The County’s jazz festival attracts bigger names and bigger crowds each year, and there’s a laid-back blues festival, too. Local musicians range from fiddlers to opera singers, and you can enjoy great local live music in pubs and cafes, or classical concerts featuring visiting artists and students from our international music camp at Port Milford.

There’s even a film festival in the works, sponsored by enthusiastic local businesses and arts patrons. And, for those who consider running a marathon an art, there’s a seriously scenic one in the autumn that is a Boston qualifier.

Nurturing local talent
Just as the talent of Avril Lavigne was nurtured in nearby Napanee, The County nurtures the creativity of our young people. At Milford’s Mt Tabor Playhouse, the Marysburgh Mummers, an energetic community theatre group, produces several shows a year with teenagers and children, and runs performing arts workshops for all ages. From local storyteller Janet Kellough’s intensely County-flavoured novel The Palace of the Moon to the story of soil, stones and love of a vineyard A Fool and Forty Acres by Geoff Heinricks, the County inspires and appreciates its resident writers, poets, journalists, musicians and artists of all kinds.

Prince Edward County’s own unique folk opera, Minerva, tells the tale of a heroic young girl who saved a ship’s crew in a storm and steered them safely home. The wonderfully dramatic story includes original ballads written by those crew members and showcases remarkable local singers and dancers who have grown up performing the show.

The Toronto company, Theatre Pass Muraille, performs its summer programme at the Regent Theatre, and their comedies, dramas and musicals helped inspire the Globe and Mail to call Prince Edward County “Ontario’s other arts hot spot…”

Visit our Theatre District and Events Calendar.

At our annual authors’ festival, local writers like Janet Kellough and J.D. Carpenter join visiting authors to deliver readings to sell out audiences.

“.. there’s no truer sign of an area committed to the arts than literary readings, and they’ve been held
successfully every year in Prince Edward since 1996.”
Globe and Mail.