Ready to Party
Buskers Festival Reveals 2026 Lineup
Story and photos by Sidney Ulakovic
Every summer, the Bay & Algoma district comes to life during the city’s biggest street party at Buskers Festival. This year, the festivities started earlier than usual as festival organizers and sponsors gathered outside Copper Kettle Coffee House this morning to announce this year’s performers. In classic Buskers’ fashion, the news was revealed with a performance of their own as organizer Uriel Lubuk took on the role of town crier to unveil this year’s lineup.
Buskers Festival organizer Uriel Lubuk
This year’s international headliners include Brett Oddly, a high-energy variety act from Winnipeg; Hercinia Arts Collective, an all-woman aerial production act; the apple-juggling, knife-tossing, broken-glass-walking Jay Henderson; and Canadian beatbox champion and Canada’s Got Talent finalist Scott Jackson. Festival organizers also look forward to unveiling their biggest act yet, The Twins’ Trip, a duo of twin brothers known for their blend of classic circus with popular street performance styles that they’ve taken to over 30 countries.
As always, the festival’s entertainment will be interspersed with an abundance of local acts. “Another thing that I learned when I was doing research on buskers festivals, ours is quite unique in how many local performers we bring in,” says festival organizer Caitlin Jeffs. As of today, confirmed local acts for this summer include Phineas Gauge, The Kidd, Tala the Clown, Mary Melodies, and Luke Warm and The Cold Ones. “There are about 30 local acts that will be coming out and performing [...] so it should be great.”
Veteran Buskers Festival performers Kaminari Wan Taiko drummers at today’s announcement
Returning after their milestone tenth anniversary last summer, Jeffs says that seeing how the community endured what was probably their worst weather ever was a testament to the festival’s impact. “There was an out of town performer, and when we called him this year to talk about it, he wrote to say, ‘I want to come back.’ And I was like, ‘So why do you want to come back? It was a disaster.’ And he said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘There was a tornado. And then I got up and did a show, and Thunder Bay came out to watch it,’” Jeffs says. “And he said it was so amazing seeing the audience that came out in this town, even after a tornado hit the festival.”
As they look towards this summer’s festivities, organizers express their gratitude for the continued support of attendees over the years. “11 years is a long time. We want this to be a permanent thing that everybody can come out and see,” Jeffs says. “It's free, and it's community.”
Buskers Festival will return this July 25 and 26. For updates on this year's festivities and schedule updates as they arrive, follow @tbaybuskers on Instagram.
