This performance is part of the Wolfe Island Garden Party, September 17-27, 2026. Enjoy concerts, buskers, food, readings, sidewalk sales, and more!

The event lineup has been changed — Fiddler Krissy Jackson will not be performing at this event.

On the Dockside Patio! $20 to the band or PWYC.

THE MERMAIDS

The Mermaids are Hillel Arnold and Josh Gardner, with help from regular collaborators such as Chris Brown, Eli Abrams, and Cam Giroux. Hillel and Josh first met in 2004, and quickly bonded over their shared love of musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Neil Young, the Velvet Underground, and the Clash. They met Chris Brown shortly thereafter, while playing around New York’s Lower East Side, sparking a fertile collaboration that has produced one EP, two full-length albums, and memorable live shows. The Mermaids play underground rock and roll that borrows freely from folk, old-school country, and punk rock. Their lyrics have explored, among other things, the struggles of working people, outcasts and underdogs (both historical and present), traveling and returning home, hidden energies and secret moments of grace, freedom and dissent, the cross-pollination of cultures and the movement of ideas, and our efforts to come to grips with the past and imagine the future. The Mermaids have played live shows in New York, Toronto, Boston, and Washington, DC, received college radio play, and appeared in the 2005 independent film “Gonzo Music Diaries.”

MIKE GUINEY

Mike Guiney was born and raised in Newfoundland — an area known for its stark beauty, fiery politicians, storytellers, poets, satirists, and rowdy fisherman, as well as its rich musical heritage, drawing from deep Irish, Welsh and Scottish roots. Surrounded by all this, Mike put pen to paper at an early age, publishing his first poem at 16 years of age.

Mike’s songwriting is informed by 40 years of day jobs, including a brief stint in the military, working on a land survey crew, kitchen work on river cruise boat, several years as steelyard labourer, social services, and 28 years in fire service.

Mike has been a finalist or semi-finalist (lyric category) in the International Song Competition on three occasions. American Songwriter Magazine have published his songs on multiple occasions, awarding him with several guitars and naming him Grand Prize winner for both for 2015 and 2019, flying him to Nashville, TN for recording and co-write sessions.

On the heels of this success Mike signed on with Wolfe Island Records and the subsequent recording sessions culminated in the release of his debut album, The Grace of Eloquence, in October 2025. With a range of special guests — Hugh Christopher Brown, Tony Scherr, Jason Mercer, Mickey Raphael, Miss Emily, and more — The Grace of Eloquence was created with the hope that if you serve the song, the listener will in turn find reward.