The Festival endeavours to have entertainment going on the Stage in the Park to ensure that every minute of this event is fun. See who we have booked so far!
*More entertainment to be added in coming months.
CEREMONY HOST
Ainara Alleyne is a 16-year-old high school student from Hamilton, Ontario. Ainara curates the Instagram page @ainarasbookshelf, where she highlights books for young people whose authors and main characters are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, differently abled and other underrepresented communities. She believes that by experiencing other cultures and perspectives through books, we can not only acknowledge our differences but understand and embrace them. Ainara was Hamilton Public Library’s first Junior Librarian in residence and speaks to student teachers at various Universities and pedagogy symposiums, and has been featured in the New York Times, CBC, CTV and numerous podcasts. Her middle book review TV show, also called Ainara’s Bookshelf, which she created, co-wrote and produced, airs on TVOkids and is currently available on YouTube.
Tia Nova has been singing for as long as she can remember. At just 17, this Canadian pop-rock singer-songwriter from Barrie, Ontario, is electric, energetic, and a true powerhouse on stage.
Her performances are bold, unforgettable, and full of pure energy. Tia’s original songs come from real emotion — written as a way to release what she feels, while giving listeners a place to relate, connect, and see themselves in her music. Her voice is powerful, her energy is unstoppable, and every performance reflects the heart and passion she brings to everything she does. For her, this isn’t just a hobby or a dream — but a reality yet to come driven by her strong passion for music and the stage. She’s just getting started, but one thing is clear: you won’t forget her.
Follow Tia everywhere on social media at @tianovaofficial
CEREMONY WARM-UP ENTERTAINER
Amy Tepperman is a passionate educator, dynamic presenter, curriculum designer, and kinesthetic learning specialist who thrives on creating joyful, captivating learning environments for students and teachers. Her work brings classrooms and community spaces to life by engaging the whole self – Body, Brain, and Being!
She is the founder of Moving EDGEucation, an educational community partner working across a wide range of school boards. Since 2010, Amy has worked with more than 1,750 public schools, with movement-based learning programming and resources that span Dance, Math, Language and Reading, Social-Emotional Learning, and Leadership Skills – all while moving to music. Amy has led thousands of live student workshops, events, and teacher professional development sessions, built a growing library of classroom resources, and shared her teaching approach at leading conferences including SXSW EDU, the Canadian Principals Conference and on the TEDx stage with her talk “How the School Day Got Its Groove Back.”
Amy believes wholeheartedly that learning should move you…literally!
When she’s not immersed in all things education, you’ll likely find her on the dance floor, lost in the woods, or learning to play the piano.
FESTIVAL ENTERTAINER
Isabella Hoops – Bubble & Hula-Hoop Spectacular
This whimsical, family-friendly show blends Isabella’s signature hula-hoop performance with moments of magical bubble artistry. Audiences are drawn into a playful world of giant bubbles, interactive moments, and high-energy hoop choreography—culminating in a jaw-dropping 50-hoop finale that leaves crowds cheering.
Between scheduled performances, guests can also visit the Hula Hoop Fun Zone, where Isabella invites children and families to pick up a hoop, learn simple tricks, and experience the joy of circus skills firsthand. It’s an engaging hands-on activity that keeps festival energy high throughout the day and leaves audiences walking away smiling.
Isabella Hoops delivers a colourful, interactive circus experience that audiences won’t soon forget.
Lyric Dubee is an award winning, multi-genre artist born and raised near Toronto, Canada. Proficient and at ease playing ROCK, POP, BLUES, CLASSICAL, and JAZZ, his deep appreciation and experimentation with all the genres led Lyric to personalize his own style of music known as REVOLUTION ROCK.
A singer, songwriter, and guitarist he performs his own works as a solo artist and fronts his own band.
Lyric Dubee released 4 albums by age 17 which debuted on the rock and AC music charts. He tours internationally and won ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR at the 2019 ISSA (International Singer Songwriters Association) Awards which took place August 2019 and won “Male vocalist of the Year” in 2022.
FESTIVAL HOST – MIKE FORD
Mike Ford is a Juno-nominated and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal-awarded Franco-Ontarian singer songwriter, playwright and educator. has released 5 acclaimed albums of Canadian history -inspired songs, been described as being “rabble-rousing and Pythonesque” and “essential listening” by the Globe & Mail, has toured as a swing member of The Arrogant Worms, sung at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa for The Vigil Project, performed in French and English and MC’d at festivals coast-to-coast, created an ever-growing repertoire for his Canada Needs You School tours, and sailed across the Great Lakes on a working Lake Boat with David Francey, from which the two wrote and recorded their album SEAWAY. With Moxy Früvous, Mike sold a quarter of a million albums, headlined festival stages across North America and Europe, performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and once, for theatrical effect, crashed through a stained glass window at a record store in Buffalo. (Ooops.) He has appeared on Dragon’s Den singing lead with his alter-ego band The Cocksure Lads, and over the past 8 years has composed and taken to Europe four original historical folk musicals. Mike has enjoyed The Forest of Reading for decades – and is very happy to be back!
NNOC Drumming Group
Origin: Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation
This group started singing September 2025, and they sing loud and proud. They are learning to work together and blend their voices. This group is a female-led, intergenerational group (women, men and youth) that focuses on sharing Cree songs to build the spirit.
The old people say the drum was a gift to them to survive hardship. However, some used strong medicine and the youth chose the drum. They have learned the songs through the women of White Wolf camp.
