The festival will be held at Sugar Beach from September 14-15, 2024 and will feature the Canine Watersports Canada competition (CWC). CWC is a premiere dog dock jumping competition with a variety of cute pups diving, jumping and fetching into a 45ft pool on land. The festival previously included dog jumping competitions in 2014 and 2015 and it was a fan-favourite.

The Toronto Waterfront Festival, which is a not-for-profit, will remain a free event, but for the first time in the festival’s 14 year history, festival producers are asking attendees to voluntarily pay what they can.

“Our mandate has always been to bring free, family-friendly, water-themed entertainment to Toronto’s Waterfront, and we will continue to do that for as long as we can,” says Michael Riehl, Chair of the Toronto Waterfront Festival. “However, with the rising operations costs and dramatic reduction in government funding from all levels this year, it is a very tough time for most festivals and events in Ontario. As a result, we are asking our visitors to pay what they can to help in any small way to continue to keep the festival alive.”

The festival, which is in partnership with The Waterfront BIA, will also welcome the tall ship Empire Sandy, the Canadian Armed Forces, Pirate Life Theatre, pop-up entertainment presented by Redpath, interactive cultural activities, food and sponsor giveaways.

2024 festival partners include: The Waterfront BIA, Redpath Sugar, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Menkes Developments, Porter Airlines and Westin Harbour Castle. For more information on the festival visit www.towaterfrontfest.com and @towaterfrontfest on social media.

ABOUT TORONTO WATERFRONT FESTIVAL: The Toronto Waterfront Festival, in partnership with the Waterfront BIA, is an annual summer event that celebrates the uniqueness of Toronto’s waterfront with on-land and on-water programming. The festival showcases the history, culture and importance of water through nautical attractions, arts, culture and indigenous entertainment, music, food and interactive activities. Every three years, the event welcomes a fleet of Tall Ships to Toronto, next in 2025. www.towaterfrontfest.com

ABOUT WATER’S EDGE FESTIVALS & EVENTS:Water’s Edge Festivals & Events is an Ontario not-for-profit corporation created in 2011 with a mandate to produce cultural family festivals and events to increase tourism to Toronto’s waterfront. WEFE produces the annual Toronto Waterfront Festival and Sugar Shack TO. Past projects have included the pan-provincial TALL SHIPS 1812 Tour (2013) and the ONTARIO 150 Tour (2017) which featured the World’s Largest Rubber Duck.

For additional information and interview requests, please contact:Victoria Mahoney, Harmony Marketingvmahoney@harmonymarketing.ca

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fcba48bd-3ddf-4ea6-a073-42515dd808a8