Kiwanis Music Festival

The Kiwanis Music Festival movement consists of regional music competitions in most Canadian urban centres. Its origin probably traces as far back as an inaugural 1908 festival in Edmonton, where Governor General Earl Grey advocated the establishment of music festivals throughout Canada's provinces.

These festivals are named after the Kiwanis service clubs which generally support the events in each community. Typically, musicians and speech arts performers at each festival are given the opportunity to perform and compete for scholarships.

Festivals by city

City	Founded	Website	Notes
Barrie, Ontario	1979	[1]	Originally the Barrie Music Scholarship Competitions, the local Kiwanis chapter assumed operations in 1987.
Calgary, Alberta	1917	[2]	Kiwanis became actively involved in 1954, and was formally named the Kiwanis Music Festival in 1968.
Chatham, Ontario	1945	[3]
Edmonton, Alberta	1908	[4]
Guelph, Ontario	1981	[5]
Halifax, Nova Scotia	1935	[6]	Originally entitled Halifax Music Festival.
Kelowna, British Columbia	1926	[7]	Originally the Okanagan Valley Music Festival, which was hosted in a 3-year cycle among Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon. Kelowna's festival became fully autonomous in 1981.
Kingston, Ontario	1973	[8]
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario	1948	[9]
Lethbridge, Alberta	1931? (2008 marks the 78th festival)	[10]	Originally the Lethbridge Music Festival, the Kiwanis Club has operated the festival since 1953.
London, Ontario	1959	[11]	First year a small, limited competition. 2008 is indicated as 40th anniversary, where 1960 was the first of regular annual competitions.
Ottawa, Ontario	1945	[12]	Originally Ottawa Music Festival Association until 1985 when Kiwanis became actively involved.
Penticton, British Columbia	1926	[13]	Originally the Okanagan Valley Music Festival, which was hosted in a 3-year cycle among Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon.
Peterborough, Ontario	1946	[14]
Prince Edward Island	1946	[15]	Four local festivals (Kings County, Queens County, West Prince and East Prince) lead to provincial finals, then to the national finals.
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador	1952	[16]
Toronto, Ontario	unknown	[17]	http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/kiwanis-festivals
Vancouver, British Columbia	1923	[18]	Originally the British Columbia Music Festival, established by the fraternal order of the Knights of Pythias. There are several smaller festival events from February each year (Jazz, Concert Band, Choral) leading up to the Main Festival in April.

Festival participants

• Lara St. John, a London, Ontario-based Kiwanis Festival Winner.