Lighthouse Festival keeping the stage busy during the winter with a slew of tribute shows (98.9 myFM)

January 21, 2025

NorfolkToday.ca

98.9 myFM Staff

For many theatres, the lights dim, and the curtains remain closed during the winter months as they prepare for their big productions in the spring and summer.

But that’s not the case at Lighthouse Festival.

Alice Barnett, the Production Manager at the theatre, says they have a full lineup of performances scheduled, using the winter season as an opportunity to showcase incredible music.

“There’s rock, there’s pop music and they’re all tribute shows. We’ve been doing this for several years now. Derek Ritschel, our former Artistic Director, started doing this over a decade ago during our off season because the theatre used to be completely empty since we weren’t doing our summer programming, so he started bringing in some rental shows to fill the gap and keep the theatre from being dark,” says Barnett.

These shows have become a beloved tradition within the community.

Although the theatre makes changes to its lineup every year, certain crowd favorites have become staples that simply must return.

“Some of these tribute shows have been with us for 10 years now, like Hotel California, Chicago Transit, who are regulars that come in. They’ll be joining us in the fall, actually this year, and they’ve been with us for so long that they’re like family and we talk to them all the time,” Barnett continues.

At the same time, Barnett emphasizes the importance of keeping things fresh by introducing new and exciting performances.

“We’ve got a brand new show, Taylor’s Story, a tribute to Taylor Swift, so she’ll be joining us. It’s fun to have some pop music in there. It’s just a wide variety of so many different acts and we’re really lucky that so many artists want to come and be a part of it.”

To see the full list of shows coming to Lighthouse Festival in Port Dover and Port Colborne, visit lighthousetheatre.com.