2nd Annual Bayfield Ukulele Festival - BUF - September 27, 2025
Welcome to the Second Annual Bayfield Ukulele Festival - BUF — an autumn day rich with music, learning, fun and camaraderie in beautiful Bayfield!
This ukulele festival includes a community “Jam” on Friday night, a group strum, open mic, three workshops and Saturday evening Presenters’ Concert.
Workshops and events are held within walking distance of Clan Gregor Square, so park your car and stroll to all events. The village boasts many great restaurants for lunch and dinner – again, all within walking distance of Clan Gregor Square.
Our two vendors will include a BUF Merch Booth and a music shop, so for those of you with Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome, you’ll want to check out the amazing ukes on sale!
The $100 registration fee covers the Friday evening Jam and all of Saturday’s events. The Presenters’ Concert tickets will be sold separately.
This year’s event will host just 125 participants. Cancel on or before July 15, and receive a full refund. Cancel after July 15, and no refund will be issued.
All of the information you need to know about the BUF agenda, including presenter information, workshop information and the registration link can be found below.
Your registration is complete only after you e-transfer your registration fee to bayfieldukulelefestival@gmail.com
We incorporated much of the feedback we received last year including:
A new venue to replace the Bayfield Town Hall
A larger venue for the open mic and group strums
A larger venue for the evening concert
Option to attend just the daytime events and not the concert
Option to bring friends/spouses to evening concert
Workshops for differing levels of ukulele skills, including Beginners, Confident Beginners and Intermediate.
Unfortunately, we still have to use venues across Highway 21, so crossing will still require extra care, however, all venues except one will be on the east side of the highway, so that will help minimize the need to cross over and back too many times.
We have limited additional tickets for the Saturday evening concert so it’s best to purchase your concert tickets when you register. At this time, we will limit concert tickets to 2/person until they are sold out. If the concert doesn’t sell out, we will make the additional tickets available closer to the date of the festival.
When you arrive at BUF 2025 and sign in, you will receive a lanyard with your name, workshops and number of concert tickets purchased (if you purchased concert tickets!). Make sure you hang on to it because it will be your entry “ticket” to all events.
Schedule of Events
Friday Evening, September 26:
7:00 – 9:00 Community Jam
Saturday, September 27:
8:00 – 9:00 Registration and welcome, coffee - Bayfield Community Centre
9:00 – 9:30 Group Strum - Bayfield Community Centre
9:45 – 11:00 Session #1
Trinity St. James Hall
St. Andrew’s United Church
Bayfield Community Centre
11:15 – 12:30 Session #2
Trinity St. James Hall
St. Andrew’s United Church
Bayfield Community Centre
12:30 – 2:30 Lunch is on your own to explore the many fine restaurants in Bayfield.
Clan Gregor square is a lovely park if you would like to bring your own lunch or get takeout. The Bayfield Community Centre will be open during the lunch break too!
1:15 – 2:15 - Open Mic – Bayfield Community Centre
2:45 – 4:00 Session #3
Trinity St. James Hall
St. Andrew’s United Church
Bayfield Community Centre
4:15 – 5:00 Group Strum – Bayfield Community Centre
7:30 – 9:30ish Presenters’ Concert – St Andrew’s United Church
Presenters
Eve Goldberg
Eve Goldberg sings music that draws honey from the rock of life. A compelling writer and interpreter, Eve's watercolour voice and solid instrumental style has made her a favourite with audiences across Canada and the US. Her performances on guitar and ukulele are intimate and relaxed, moving effortlessly from folk classics to original gems. Since 1990, she has performed her trademark mixture of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, old time, and jazz in venues across Canada and the US, ranging from small house concerts to the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Along the way she's earned the respect of legendary musicians like Peggy Seeger, Geoff Muldaur, and Penny Lang. She has released three CDs and is currently a member of the folk/roots duo Gathering Sparks.
When she is not performing, Eve specializes in teaching music to adults in community settings. She especially enjoys teaching beginners and strives to create a supportive environment that encourages students at any skill level to learn and grow.
Eve currently leads the Parkdale Ukulele Group and the Ukulele Orchestra of Toronto (Ukes of T). For over twenty years she organized The Woods Music and Dance Camp, an adult folk music retreat in Ontario. She has performed and taught music classes at the James Hill Ukulele Institute (Vancouver, BC and Toronto, ON), Port Townsend Ukulele Festival (Port Townsend, WA), Midwest Ukulele and Harmonica Camp (Olivet, MI), Strathmore UkeFest (Strathmore, MD), Ashokan Uke Fest (Olivebridge, NY), Dock Street Ukulele Camp (Shelburne, NS), Haliburton School of Art and Design (Haliburton, ON), Winter Folk Camp (Haliburton, ON), and the Midland Uke Fest (Midland, ON), and is in demand as a workshop leader and performer at ukulele events near and far.
Check out Eve here.
Jane Lewis
Jane Lewis is a strong believer in the power of music to bring people together. She has led vocal groups for over 15 years, from "how to sing harmony by ear" workshops to various choirs, Vocal Meditation, Circle Singing, Women’s Music Weekends, and community singing events. She has studied community music making with Music for People (US) and Música do Círculo (Brazil).
As a singer-songwriter, Jane is often compared to Carole King, playing piano-based music that draws on her strength as a lyricist and singer. She performs in the folk/roots duo Gathering Sparks (with Eve Goldberg), in which she also dabbles with accordion and ukulele.
Check out Jane and her music here. Check out Gathering Sparks here.
Cynthia Kinnunen
Passionate about the role that music can play throughout our lives, Cynthia encourages everyone to explore music, regardless of their age or ability. Based in Guelph, Ontario, Cynthia offers engaging instruction and support to students of all ages, with a focus on adult learners, including piano and ‘ukulele lessons, classes, workshops, and the popular Royal City Ukulele Ensemble program, now in its 10th season.
Cynthia is currently pursuing her PhD in Community Music, with an interest in midlife musicking, social music-making, and musical identity. She holds a Master of Arts in Community Music, Bachelor of Arts [Hons] in music, Grade Ten Conservatory piano certification, and is a Level 3 graduate of the James Hill Ukulele Initiative (JHUI) Teacher Certification Program, has served as a clinician in that program.
Read up on Cynthia here.
Brenna MacCrimmon
Based in Toronto Canada, Brenna MacCrimmon has been studying and performing the music of Turkey and the Balkans in North America and abroad since the 1980’s. Her interest in ukulele was piqued while working with a special sheet music collection of pre-1930’s popular song. The friendly words “With Ukulele Accompaniment” featured on the cover art of many tunes prompted her to get a ukulele and start to learn some of this classic repertoire. It didn’t take long for her to try adapting melodies and tunes from the Balkans to this versatile little instrument and taking it with her wherever she went. She hosted the monthly Storefront Ukulele Sessions (sadly on long term hiatus) and joined forces with fellow ukulalians to organize and host ongoing Ukulele Wang Dang Doodles on the Toronto Islands.
For several years she has taught ukulele at the Haliburton School of Arts and Design’s summer program alongside Eve Goldberg. She continues to teach ukulele and Balkan songs privately in her home and performs with a number of Toronto based ensembles including Greek-Turkish Meltemi and Juno nominated vocal quartet Turkwaz.
Heather Katz
Heather Katz has been part of the Ontario Music scene for many years, performing at clubs and festivals. Known for her powerful voice, she has been honoured to perform with artists such as James Brown and BB King. As the co-owner of Broadway Music in Orangeville, Heather has become THE go-to person for ukuleles in Ontario serving customers as far away as Yellowknife. She fell in love with the ukulele in 2009 and started noodling in the store between customers. Out of that grew a respect and love for the little dancing flea. After hearing James Hill perform at the Blue Skies Music Festival, Heather enrolled in his teacher training course and added ukulele teacher to her vocal and guitar teaching credentials. Heather led the Blue Skies Ukulele Orchestra for several years, as well as presenting workshops at the Midland Ukulele Festival, Harbourfront, Hillside Music Festival and the Royal City Ukulele Festival.