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NEWS RELEASE

Immediate Release: September 30, 2009

Great entertainment to support “Homes for all”

Tickets are now on sale for the seventh Homefest concert. The purpose of this annual event is to draw attention to the desperate need for more affordable housing and the eradication of homelessness.

Sunday, November 1

2:00 to 7:00 pm

Transalta Arts Barns in Old Strathcona (10330 – 84 Avenue).

Children under 12 attend free

Tickets are now available for $10 at:

·         Earth’s General Store (10832 Whyte Avenue)

·         Myhre’s Music (8715-118 Avenue)

·         Tix on the Square (3 Sir Winston Churchill Square)

·         MacEwan Bookstores.

The Homefest 2009 line up:

 
Back Porch Swing                                           Bix Mix Boys

Cory Danyluk and Sarah Card                         Maria Dunn

Front Porch Roots Revue                                Maura Hagan

Le Fuzz                                                            Myrol

Songs from the Avenue                                   Ben Sures and Kevin Cook

Those Handsome Boys from CKUA               U22 Revue
Melissa Heine                                                  Bob Jahrig

Music happens at three continuous stages over the five hours and there is also be a Family Fun Zone for children’s activities and entertainment.

In addition to five hours of great music, this year will see a full program at the “Sound Bites” room offering information on housing security issues, suggestions about how to advocate for more public support for housing, and a full hour of poets. “The more informed people are about the issues, the more able they are to advocate for a better deal for people without the dignity of basic decent housing. It is vital for more Edmontonians to understand how deeply some are suffering and to speak up in support of action.” says ECOHH chair Keith Harding.

Bill Werthmann, of Northern Lights Folk Club and music coordinator for Homefest, says the line up for this seventh concert includes some of Edmonton and area’s best-known folk performers. “Younger performers have been popular in recent years, so we have a U22 set of artists back this year. We have Le Fuzz to bring an international sound to the day. The musicians who created the Songs from the Avenue project will join us because they tell the story of Norwood, a neighbourhood very aware of the challenges when affordable housing is not available for people,”  Further additions to the lineup will be posted at the Homefest website (www.homefest.ca) in the weeks ahead.

ECOHH has appreciated the support of Mayor Stephen Mandel and the City of Edmonton over the years. Mandel has encouraged Edmontonians to attend the event and has personally taken part each year, saying Homefest is important because it educates while it entertains and it provides an outstanding atmosphere where Edmontonians can learn and exchange ideas about how to meaningfully tackle homelessness. The City's Commission to End Homelessness is now active in providing leadership in the pursuit of an end to homelessness.

Edmonton singer-songwriter Jessica Heine is part of Homefest because its purpose is important to her. “With the beginning of fall and as I watch the thermometer get closer and closer to zero, the lack of affordable housing in our city is brought home to me.  Walking in Edmonton’s beautiful river valley, I see people setting up houses made of cardboard to live in during the winter months.  It is frustrating to know that with all the money that has come into our province in recent years, homelessness is still an issue in 2009.  Homefest gives voice to this frustration.  It allows the folk community and the greater Edmonton community to come together, educate ourselves, and stand united in our joint wish that an event like Homefest will not always be necessary,” Heine says.

“On a typical night thousands of people are homeless in our city,” explains ECOHH spokesperson Jim Gurnett. “There is also a shortage of thousands more units of low-income affordable housing, with waiting lists for available units are years long. Even funds for rent supplements for people unable to afford their housing are exhausted. Needs range from emergency shelter and special supported housing to low-income rental units. ”

“Money raised at Homefest supplements existing resources to help those being hurt by the affordable housing crisis,” says Harding. “Everyone deserves appropriate affordable housing. In Edmonton’s strong economy a growing number of people are in danger of becoming homeless. We hope those attending Homefest will deliver the message more funding is needed to prevent this,” adds Gurnett.

The tremendous support of many volunteers, including experts from the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, makes it possible for the concert to be presented with minimal expenses.

Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness is a community organization that includes about 30 organizations involved with various aspects of housing security.

For more information, please contact:  Jim Gurnett: 587-881-1940

Website:  www.homefest.ca