Wolfe Island Garden Party
September 17-27, 2026

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

Please note Jason Wilson will not be performing due to unexpected circumstances for the performer.

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.”

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.

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

Matthew Barber is a Toronto-based singer-songwriter with more than two decades of acclaimed recordings and international touring behind him. A two-time JUNO nominee, he has released ten records with Outside Music, including The Family Album with his sister Jill Barber. His new album, Find the Time, reflects on fatherhood, love, mortality and the renewed appreciation for life that comes with change.

Rebekah Hawker is an Ontario-based folk-americana singer-songwriter from Barrie, bringing warmth, wit, and honesty to kitchen-table storytelling. She’s performed at Mariposa Folk Festival and Summerfolk, with songs featured on SiriusXM, CBC Music, and Indie88. Her 2025 EP Quit My Habit is followed by her 2026 single “Taking a Look In”, with debut album Louise expected in 2027.

Clever Hopes is the songwriting project of Nova Scotia–based artist Andrew Shaver. Across three albums, he has built a national presence, with10 songs added to SiriusXM rotation, including a French-language single that has remained in rotation since 2022. Holding On, the lead single from his forthcoming album Even Gooder Than Tomorrow, reached #1 on the CBC Music Top 20. His work has earned two Music Nova Scotia nominations and an East Coast Music Award nomination. Andrew also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program entitled When We Wake.

https://www.cleverhopes.com/

Please register for this event by securing a ticket!

Connecting philosophical meditations with agricultural expertise, Seeding Hope urges us to reassess our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the vast living systems to which we belong—reminding us tht when we nurture the world around us, we nuture ourselves.

In Seeding Hope, Jack Algiere, Chief Agroecology Officer (CAO) at Stone Barns, shares the wisdom he’s gained in a lifetime of farming, growing, and observing the natural world.

This luminous book is directed not just to farmers, but for all who desire a more connected and meaningful life. By following and examining the stages of a plant’s life cycle, Seeding Hope explores how this botanical pattern is a vital blueprint, offering lessons that inform all aspects of our lives.

“[Algiere] is a brilliant farmer because he’s a brilliant observer; he’s spent a lifetime letting plants teach him how to see. In prose as attentive, searching, and grounded as his farming, Jack gathers those lessons into something rare and resonant: a portrait of the natural world as teacher, and an ethic for how to live, drawn from the ground up.
—Dan Barber, Chef, Blue Hill and author of The Third Plate

BUY THIS BOOK in advance!

This event is a co-presentation with Kingston WritersFest, which runs October 1-4, 2026 at the Kingston Marriott.

About the Author:

Jack Algiere is Advisor & Chief Agroecology Officer at the Stone Barns Center. As the organization’s first official employee back in 2003, he brought a critical skill set in diversified, regenerative farm practice to the Stone Barns landscape. Since then, he has built an integrated farming operation rooted in land stewardship, innovation, and community, which also serves as a training campus for young farmers, chefs, changemakers, and the public.

Jack has been actively farming for more than two decades and has trained a generation of young farmers in organic and biodynamic farming practices. He oversees the extensive farming operations at Stone Barns, integrating a holistic farm team that works together on multi-species grass-fed livestock, grains, field crops, greenhouse, fruit, flowers, wild landscapes, and compost in a four-season regenerative system. Jack leads programming in innovative tool design, breeding and monitoring work that supports the efforts of small- and mid-size farmers, and was part of the core team that developed the Conservation Action Plan that led to the management of 350 acres of public lands in the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. He is a frequent public speaker and has appeared at food and farming conferences and summits across the country. He holds a B.S. in horticulture from the University of Rhode Island.

WIPP WEEKENDS at the Wolfe Island Pub & Pizzeria! 2 slices of pizza and a pop, only $10. Vegetarian options available.

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

The Corn Do is happening at the Waterfront Pier, following Jack Algiere’s book launch.

Featuring —

Fresh Corn

Corn on the Cob Buffet Bar
Roasted corn from Island’s Dream Farm (DeBruin Family) with a choice of toppings inspired by and made with produce from the gardens of Wee Grow on the Foot.

Cornucopia Table
Corn-inspired goodies made by local businesses from the island! Cookies, cornbread, donuts, and other yummy creations for sale!

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

SPICER’S BUSKER STAGE — Open to all! Share your talents with the crowd at Spicer’s Dockside Grill. Performers receive a $5 voucher to The Back Road Bistro (Christie’s Food Truck).

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

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

Singer-songwriter Stephen Stanley may most immediately be known as a founding member, lead guitarist and vocalist with Toronto’s Lowest of the Low. The groups “genuinely timeless album” (Exclaim!), Shakespeare My Butt…, earned gold record status and saw the band share stages with the likes of Billy Bragg, The Violent Femmes, amongst many others. Stephen ultimately, had his own mark and music to make and The Stephen StanleyBand became his focus. He’s logged monumental shows with the likes of, 54•40, Bob Mould, Cracker, Lee Ann Womak, Jake Clemons, Willie Nile, The Jayhawks, and Lloyd Cole. He’s played festival stages in Germany, and toured across the UK and Ireland. The band’s latest album, Before The Collapse Of The Hive (Wolfe Island Records) is an album brimming with raw, unflinching urgency, steadfast observation and soul-searching storytelling that highlights Stephen’s immediate world: those he loves, and those he’s lost.

For this year’s edition of the Wolfe Island Garden Party, Stephen will assemble a band to perform the 2018 album “Jimmy & the Moon” from front to back. The band will include long time collaborator Chris Bennett on guitar, Chris Brown on Keys, Jason Mercer on Bass, Pete Bowers on drums and Sarah McDermott and Hadley McCall Parsons on vocals. Jimmy & the Moon was recorded on Wolfe Island at The Post Office studio and features contributions from everyone listed in this band.

Opening the show is our own local hero — Craig “Rocky” Roberts, touring guitar technician for the likes of Neil Young, Wilco, Patti Smith, CSNY, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, Nils Lofgren, and My Morning Jacket, brings his own rootsy sound to the stage with the help of his Wolfe Island musical family. Rocky’s most recent EP, Pieces of Time, was released to enthusiastic critical acclaim. The first single, Buck Moon, features Norah Jones & Carl Broemel (of My Morning Jacket).

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

Lynn Miles is one of Canada’s most respected and influential songwriters, with a body of work that has quietly but profoundly shaped the country’s contemporary folk and roots landscape. Based in Ottawa, she has spent decades crafting songs of remarkable emotional precision—writing that is literate without pretension, intimate without fragility, and grounded in a deep understanding of human experience.

Suzanne Jarvie has conjured up something atypical — bold, mysterious, life-affirming and rich in deep symbolism — on her powerful new album “mother’s day”, released on February 20, 2026 in North America via Wolfe Island Records, and May 15th in Europe/UK via Continental Record Services. A Canadian singer songwriter, folk and Americana artist, Jarvie is not limited to these niches, as she delves headstrong into the mystical and the subconscious dream-like terrain that often strikes fear and hesitation in most. Musically, her voice captivates in the dark, mesmerizing way that PJ Harvey, Joni Mitchell or Patti Smith strike a chord in uncharted areas of the listener’s awareness.

GALLERY SUNDAYS — Sunday morning acoustic music at the Wolfe Island Gallery; Artists to be announced. 

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

WIPP WEEKENDS at the Wolfe Island Pub & Pizzeria! 2 slices of pizza and a pop, only $10. Vegetarian options available.

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

Ron Hawkins has long been revered as one of Canada’s greatest contemporary singer-songwriters. This storied musician is playing the final concert of the Wolfe Island Garden Party, September 17-27, 2026.

As lead singer/multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter of Canada’s legendary Lowest of the Low, Ron Hawkins has enjoyed many accolades through the years:

In 1996, 2000 and again in 2005, Chart Magazine honoured the group’s 1991 debut album, Shakespeare My Butt, with spots in the top 10 of the Top 100 Canadian Albums of All Time. In 2000 and once again in 2015, Hawkins was voted Songwriter of the Year by NOW Magazine’s reader’s poll. Also in 2000, Ron received Toronto station 102.1 The Edge’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2008 The Lowest of the Low was inducted into the Canadian Indie Rock Hall of Fame and awarded gold records for Shakespeare My Butt. In 2018 Warner Music Canada released Shakespeare… My Box, a commemorative career spanning Lowest of the Low box set.

Over the years, Ron has written and released nine LOTL albums, six solo discs, three records with his band The Rusty Nails, and three records (one a double album) as Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins – that’s 20 albums of original material to date.

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

On the final night of the Garden Party, we visit Wolfe Island Gardens for an intimate Songwriter’s Circle by the fireside, featuring festival artists — could be a magical night! Admission is by donation, with proceeds supporting Friends of Ferals.

Wolfe Island Gardens Location: 433 Hwy 95, just north of Base Line Rd. Click here for map link.

In case of inclement weather, we’ll be moving indoors to the Hotel Wolfe Island.