OUR HISTORY (in brief)

Click here to read our 2020 Report.

2012

In the summer of 2012, Waterloo (Ontario) area condominium/real estate lawyer, Michael Clifton, met with then student and music promoter, Care Finch, to get some guidance on organizing a memorial concert commemorating the 10th year since Joe Strummer's death.  Care suggested the event could be more, and, ultimately, they and a small cadre of volunteers, with the support of various corporate sponsors (mostly Michael's colleagues) and local venues, organized a non-profit, charity-fundraising music festival that took place December 14, 2012, with 22 performances at 7 downtown Kitchener (Ontario) venues (including an outdoor stage at Kitchener City Hall). The event was launched on Dec. 13 with the movie "Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten" and an art show at Princess Cinema in Waterloo.   

 See more details about the 2012 event here.

2013

A more ambitious program took place in 2013, with Michael organizing three additional "pre-festival" concerts representing a range of musical styles including ska, rock and indie ballads.  Then, in December, Michael and Care's team of volunteersl produced another multi-venue festival event with 30 different performances and a "VIP Event" attended by local civic leaders (MP Stephen Woodworth and City Councillor, Dan Glenn-Graham) along with representatives from Strummerfest's supported charities. The event also included another art exhibit.  Once again, all organizers, performers, crew members, and venues operated on an entirely non-profit, volunteer basis.  Over the first two years of the festival, Strummerfest raised hundred of dollars for its supported suicide-prevention charities.

 See more details about the 2013 event here.

2014-2015

In 2014, Care was moving on to other things in her career, and Michael intended to let the Strummerfest concept go. A phone call from Chailey Nelson, the owner of Regal Road Studios in Guelph,  changed that.  With Chailey's enthusiastic encouragement, Michael organized a smaller event held just at the studio. A handful of 6 bands then entertained just about that many individuals, keeping the Strummerfest name alive another year and still raising a handful of cash for the supported charities.  In 2015, Michael took the hiatus he had planned for the year before.  (In the meantime, he also joined Chailey's punk rock cover band, C.I.D.)

 See more details about the 2014 event here.

2016

For 2016, the Joe Strummer Foundation launched its "StrummerJam" initiative, inviting its supporters worldwide to organize and host concerts during the month of August to raise funds for the foundation or other charities with related objectives. Michael and C.I.D. took up the challenge and hosted two concerts ~ one at Jimmy Jazz in Guelph and one at the Linsmore Tavern in Toronto.  With that momentum, Michael also organized "Strummerfeast" ~ a gala dinner event held at the Boathouse in Kitchener in December.  A handful of artists performed, and even recently elected Waterloo MP and Cabinet Minister, Bardish Chagger, attended.

 See more details about the 2016 StrummerJam's here.

 See more details about the 2016 Strummerfeast event here.

2017

It just so happened that 2017 was both Strummerfest's 5th year and the 40th anniversary of the of The Clash's first and self-titled album.  To mark these two occasions, Michael returned Strummerfest to a festival format. Supported by City of Waterloo Events Coordinator, Josh Bean, Strummerfest moved from December to August, and from Kitchener downtown to Waterloo Public Square.  This year, ten bands entertained on an outdoor stage, and the City committed to support Strummerfest's "Summerfest" program for years to come.  Kitchener's House of Friendship was added to Strummerfest's list of regularly supported charities.

2018

For its second "Summerfest" in Waterloo Public Square, Strummerfest was expanded from one-day to two, running from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the Friday and Saturday of the 2018 August Civic Holiday weekend.  The festival featured 18 bands, including some travelling in from Montreal, Toronto and Burlington, as well as many of the local bands and performers that had supported Strummerfest's earlier shows.  Bardish Chagger, MP, made a surprise visit, and the festival was promoted on CBC , CTV and in both the Waterloo Chronicle and Waterloo Region Record newspapers; it was our most successful fundraiser so far.

 See more details about the 2017 Summerfest  here.

2019

Continuing to call Waterloo Public Square "home", Strummerfest 2019 brought in 22 bands to perform again over the Friday and Saturday of the August Civic Holiday weekend. Headliners included Canadian indie music star, Stephen Stanley, and Ontario's popular punk troupe, The Lucky Ones.  CKWR-FM promoted the festival steadily during the weeks before, and a number of its popular DJ's - most notably, Pete Fowler and Coral Andrews - attended and shared in some of the emcee opportunities.  

 See more details about  Strummerfest  ​2019 here.

 See more details about the 2018 Summerfest  here.

2020-2021

Ah, the pandemic years... 2020 and 2021 brought us COVID-19. which brought an end, temporarily, to any live music events at all.  Even before live music was stopped, however, it was decided to cancel our 2020 plans since the economy for many small businesses - like many of our sponsors - was hurting.  Rather than increase their strain, we decided we'd forego the show for that year. By 2021, however, there was enough recovery to allow us to ask a few sponsors for their interest in supporting an online version of the event. That gave birth to the first all-online Strummerfest, premiering on YouTube and Facebook on August 21, which would have been Joe Strummer's 69th birthday. Doing the show as a pre-recorded set of videos also made it easier to feature our headliner, Danny Michel, andto include our first international participants (Media Whores from Scotland).  

 See more details about  Strummerfest  ​2021 here.