SAPPYFEST

…and many more!!!! Wow! Every year Sappyfest is an act of collective dreaming, a seemingly impossible gathering of potentials and possibilities, and this 20th annual iteration was truly something special. From the very brim of our overflowing hearts, thank you for an incredible weekend, thank you for your brilliant art, thank you for your dedicated and intentional participation in creating this space, your volunteering, your mustering of staggering communal energies of care and kindness and creativity. We know it, we see it, and still it’s always the best and most impossible surprise. It is ever-new. Thank you for being here, together. All of this: this is you! Sappy birthday dear Sappy! Video of Julianna Riolino, Sappyfest 20, Saturday August 2 Filmed by Blaise MacMullin Sappyfest 20 August 1-3, 2025 Sackville NB

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS! Are you interested in doing something really cool from July 31st - August 2nd? Do you want to support arts in Atlantic Canada? Come volunteer with Sappyfest, Sackville’s biggest music and arts festival. We’re approaching our 21st anniversary but need your help to make it happen! Visit or send me an email at [email protected]. You get free passes if you do! See you there! (Sorry for the wind sounds in the video! It’s windy in Sackville!)

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS: BE A PART OF SAPPYFEST! / APPEL À BÉNÉVOLES: FAITES PARTIE DE SAPPYFEST! Sappyfest is Sackville’s annual festival of music, art, and human creativity. It is the expression of a creative community - and it takes a community to make sure everything runs smoothly and safely, and to create the conditions for connection, magic, and surprise! We do this together! There are lots of volunteer roles to choose from and you can specify your availability to suit your needs. The volunteer call is open for all-ages, with youth opportunities available in certain roles. 

Volunteer for Sappyfest:
1 - Sign up with the Volunteer Form linked in the bio
2 - Get free passes to Sappyfest! ——————- Sappyfest est le festival annuel de musique, d’art, et de créativité humaine. C’est l’expression d’une communauté créative - et ça prend une communauté pour assurer que tout se déroule de manière fluide et sécuritaire. Aidez-nous à créer un environment pour la connexion, la magie, et la surprise! Il y a plusieurs rôles différents que vous pouvez choisir et vous pouvez préciser votre disponibilité selon ce qui vous convient. Cet appel est ouvert à tous les âges, avec des opportunités pour les jeunes dans certains postes.  On fait ça ensemble!  Faites du bénévolat pour Sappyfest: 1 - Inscrivez-vous avec le Formulaire Bénévolat dans notre bio 2 - Obtenez des passes gratuites à Sappyfest

It’s everyone’s favourite time of year!(?) The Sappyfest AGM will occur (online) on May 20th! RSVP via the email in the slide! And a reminder: if you are interested in joining the board please fill out the form in our bio links! Huge shoutout to the community of members who caretake and maintain the heart and independent spirit of Sappyfest after all these years!

STEVE HALEY is a story-songer of the highest order and a beloved member of Sackville, NB’s thriving creative community. His recent album Secret Knock reflects on mortality, anxiety, religion, and the mundanity of domestic living - it’s spinning on every turntable in town! Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

GREEN EYES, WITCH HANDS is a folktronica band from the renowned folktronica hotspot of Bathurst, New Brunswick, known for pairing acoustic guitars with crisp, crunchy beats. They mix natural, unplugged sounds with innovative electronic layers.They shift easily in tone, moving from songs that feel serious or slightly unsettling to moments that are unexpectedly light and humorous. Their lyrics offer impression rather than direct narratives, giving listeners room to find their own connections. Connect with Green Eyes, Witch Hands at Sappyfest! Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

Writhe to the euphoric hardcore of HRT at Sappyfest! Sparked in 2018, Ana Westcott and Kirby Lees make up the transgirl duo of ur dreams. Born and based in the gurgling musical bellies of Montreal, seaborne sirens by way of their Maritime & Atlantic roots, HRT’s electronic sound is forever changing shape. Lees’ piercing gaze and voice cut above the noise, while Westcott nods, wielding the pulsing controls and skittering synths. Their latest work, warm wet stroke of luck, bottles the feeling live from the floor — the sticky, sweaty, the loud, the sheer bodies crashing into each other. HRT leaves not one crossed arm in the house, not one person undanced, not one person uptight. Take your medicine. Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

A little older, a little bolder, a little wiser, this summer BOYHOOD returns to Sappyfest! When Caylie Runciman started calling herself Boyhood, it was a nod to childhood nostalgia. The alias – and the beguiling bedroom anthems – are one and the same. Tough-kid guitar grit and deadpan verses give way to whimsical synth lines and delicate harmonies. But like an off-kilter merry-go-round, or a candy shop in a seedy part of town, there’s a shady layer to Runciman’s perfect pop. Her black magic is raw – equal parts ecstasy and heartbreak. And in among the bright colours, there’s the joy and the pain in knowing what it means to grow up. Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

BIBI CLUB: The Montreal-based indie pop duo of Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque have been carving out distinct vibrations since their formation in the late 2010s, operating in the midst of the direct action and sonic intimacy that has defined their creative process from the very beginning. As young musicians, Adèle and Nicolas shared remarkably similar backgrounds: both grew up in Montreal, earning their musical chops playing classic rock with local bands before training in jazz. They studied music in school, and both fell in love with the arts of both composition and improvisation. This led Nicolas into the Canadian indie-rock band Plants and Animals, while it led Adèle into a singing career of her own. The pair met when Adèle joined Plants and Animals on tour as a vocalist, and they quickly realized they had shared musical affinities. Although they were each committed to their work with Plants and Animals, they had also begun developing musical ideas independently, finding a mutual outlet for these creations through their budding friendship. Sappyfest celebrates friendship! Welcome Bibi Club! Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

ELIZA NIEMI is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and film composer from Toronto. Her lyric-driven, uniquely-arranged music has been described as “slice of life” and “ASMR pop.” Before she became a cellist and vocalist, her father taught her the basics of bass and guitar at home. They would play together by ear, which fostered her deep musicality and a creative ethic that prioritizes joyful collaboration. Collaboration has always been at the centre of her practice — whether it be in improvising, playing in her friends’ bands (Dorothea Paas, André Ethier, Little Kid, Evan J Cartwright), or running her label Vain Mina Records - or performing at artist-run, community-grounded festivals like Sappyfest! Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NBc

Sappyfest is thrilled to welcome back LEANNE BETASAMOSAKE SIMPSON! Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s 2025 album Live Like The Sky is an act of re-worlding, a record of struggle, a nuanced and complex shore combining a surprising influence from formative alternative music with a vital Nishnaabe presence to create a fugitive and expansive space of relationship and affirmation. The album joins a growing body of emergent creations from the Michi Saagiig Nishinaabeg writer, scholar, artist, including the Hilary Weston Writer’s Trust Prize for non-fiction winner, Theory Of Water, the letter-exchange-as-manifesto Rehearsals For Living (with Robin Maynard), and the Dublin literary prize short-listed Noopiming, and the Polaris Music Prize short-listed Theory Of Ice. Present in all of these is a deep engagement and response to the world, the wild fire smoke, the genocides, the driving fascism. Simpson grew up rurally and discovered alternative music, punk, new wave, and goth through the static and poor reception of the distant alternative station broadcasting from the city; this music offered an escape from the ubiquitous country music and hard rock, offered difference, offered possibility; offered an otherwise. In the space between the aesthetics of the lyrics and the aesthetics of the music, Live Like the Sky was born, carrying the undercurrents of resistance alongside a celebration of (still) being here. Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB

STATUS/NON-STATUS return to Sappyfest! Noisier, more beautiful, more uplifting than ever, navigating the daily grind and the big changes. Status/Non-Status is a band that boldly explores Indigenous identity, politics, and ancestry. Their music blends folk rock, psychedelia, post-rock, and grunge into powerful soundscapes that resonate with emotional depth and cultural significance. Adam Sturgeon—lead singer and Anishinaabe community worker—is the driving force behind Status/Non-Status. Defined as “non-status” by the Canadian government, Sturgeon’s identity is rooted in the complex history of his family. His grandfather enfranchised to join the Armed Forces and become a Canadian citizen, creating a legacy that Sturgeon confronts in his music and work. His artistic journey is deeply intertwined with raising awareness about the impact of colonization while striving to reconnect with his Anishinaabe/Potawatomi roots and community. Committed to analyzing and questioning colonial systems of oppression, his work reflects the struggles of his people and offers a path toward healing. Sappyfest July 31 - August 2, 2026 Sackville, NB