After one of the first rainfalls of the three-day Hillside music festival on Guelph Lake Island, two mud-covered babies splashed in a puddle while their amused parents looked on. By the end of the weekend, everyone – indie hipster kids, older lesbian couples, young queermos with sweet haircuts, families, white tribe-y hippies with djembes and synthetic dreads, old for-real hippies, and all the music-lovin’ people at Hillside – were those mud-covered babies.

A broad variety of musical performances spanned the three days, from Native American activist Buffy Sainte-Marie to ethereal Celtic star Loreena McKennitt to Canadian R&B performer Divine Brown, from percussionist Gurpreet Chana to lesbian folk comedian Kate Reid to storm-battling violinist Owen Pallett, and many indie, folky, spooky, spoken, and soulful acts in between.
In the midst of all this outdoorsy, musical loveliness, there were some crappy elements. Cultural appropriation seemed to be a bit of an underlying (and sometimes overt) theme.

While the drumming and dance coordinated by members of the aboriginal community in Guelph were an important and beautiful part of the weekend, other things, such as the white women wearing leather-fringed Pocahontas garb to the drum and social dance, the white shirtless dudes and synthetic dreadlocked girls dancing “tribally” around the late-night fires, and the over-sized “Native Status Card” with a cut-out framed by black braids for people to insert their faces in, were a little unsettling.

Plenty of workshops were offered throughout the weekend on topics such as stone balancing, collective movement, yoga, healing, urban homesteading, aikido, bellydance, bike repair for women, tattooing and piercing, and anal play. Sadly, neither the body mod or backdoor workshops offered demonstrations. It was a family event, to be fair.

The environmentally-conscious festival was well-organized, with a truck full of free, clean water that was served all weekend instead of bottled water, reusable dishes and cutlery for all food served there, and a great staff of volunteers scrubbed non-stop. Accessible seating in the shade for seniors, disabled people, pregnant women and parents with young children was available in front of the main stage.

The food was delicious, healthy, plentiful, and not terribly overpriced. African peanut stew, Kiwi nachos, Carribean vegan chickpea sandwiches, organic ice cream, and creamy, cold, hyper-making drinking chocolate were just some of the many tasty options to choose from.

And one of the best things about camping on an “island” for a muddy three-day musical festival? Many of the performers camped there, too. Maybe they slept in warm trailers rather than tents with puddles, but they could be spotted walking around, watching other artists perform, eating beside you at a picnic table, partaking in the hula hooping workshop, and slipping in the wet grass. It was pretty charming.

Day 1 photos
Day 2 photos
Day 3 photos