Harvest buskers
The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival has been a Fredericton staple every September in the downtown area for the past 28 years. In a span of just six days, Harvest turns Fredericton into a lively city, jam packed with 150 performances.
“I wish it would happen more often,” said Justine Koroscil, a Fredericton musician.
Out of the 27 stages at Harvest, eight are free. Buskers and street performers occupy many of these free stages, as well as street corners.
One busker, Oland Monteith, performed on the corner of Wilmot Alley.
“I’ve played this spot and many others around here,” said Monteith.
“I’ve been attending Harvest for a long time and I’ve played here for the past five probably, doing this street type of thing. And I’ve done some inside [shows] with bands.”
One Harvest Veteran, Tony Smith, has been attending this festival for the past 10 years. One of his favourite memories of people busking was in 2015, when the band Salmon Jazz played a show at the Bridge to Nowhere off of Carleton St.
“The Barracks and the Mojo [tent] were all getting out at the same time, and all those people were walking through and there was this huge dance party going on. [Everyone] is going, ‘what is going on’ … it was just a whole bunch of friggin’ hippies having fun. It’s my favourite Harvest moment, seriously.”
Music is a big part of the free street performances at Harvest, but there’s other types of busking as well. Brooklyn Crockett, a grade six student from Nashwaaksis Middle School knows this well.
“Well, there’s many different varieties of art. Sometimes it’s different talents, other times it’s different kinds of music,” said Crockett.
Some talents included fire spinning and a show of ultimate strength.
The artist for the ultimate strength performance called himself “Strong Man.” He did a variety of strength tests to a captivated audience, such as juggling bowling balls, throwing knives in the air and bending heavy objects such as horseshoes, which he got the audience to test the mailability of before hand.
Every year, people look forward to seeing buskers at Harvest. It’s an accessible way to still access music and entertainment even if you don’t have a pass to the main stage.
“[Buskers] have a tendency to draw people in and keep them for a while before they go to the other tents. And it increases the energy on the streets and helps the businesses,” said Koroscil,
With another Harvest come and gone, Oland Monteith hopes that he will be accepted when he applies to busk again next year.
“My favourite part about harvest is being out on the street, those little children that we seen throwing money into my guitar case, I have a hard time not to cry. It’s my favourite, and to see them dance and enjoy it.”
“I just love it and I’m so glad and thankful that they bring me back every year. And I’m gonna sing and do it as long as they bring me here.”
