“CK On the Edge” announced to members and artists gathered at the William Street Café last night, that Serena Ryder and Ashley MacIsaac will headline the inaugural festival this coming July.

Serena Ryder is a Juno Award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter and guitarist.  Ranging musically between folk, roots, country, and adult contemporary, Ryder possesses a three-octave range.  You might hear her all over the radio station with her hits Little Bit of Red and Weak in the Knees among many others.  Ryder will perform in the Kiwanis Theatre on Sunday, July 11 @ 8:00 pm.  Tickets are $42.50.

Ashley MacIsaac, an award-winning fiddler from Cape Breton Island, is known for his rock-star bravado and eccentricities.  If you caught the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, you would have seen him perform as the featured fiddler.  His performance in Chatham will be more traditional in flavour.  MacIsaac will perform in the Kiwanis Theatre on Friday, July 16 @ 8:00 pm.  Tickets are $30.00.

In addition to Ryder and MacIsaac, over 50 other artists will take part in this 11-day festival including award-winning Canadian country/bluegrass performers,  John and Michele Law who are “excited to participate in this new festival and happy that Chatham-Kent is promoting its homegrown talent”.  John and Michele’s Kitchen Party will include a cooking demonstration mixed with a musical set.

Dakota Hodgson, one of Dances in the Park’s emerging choreographers said “she is having a blast so far and really excited for the festival”.  Other dance artists performing include Paige Eddie, Devin Cornell’s Celtic Fire, and the CKSS Dance Team.  Board President Lesley Grand explained that audiences will be exposed to the D’Zone, or the dance zone, on Saturday, July 10, which is part of Tastefest organized by the Downtown Chatham BIA.  Grand adds, “ Tastefest alone will include over 20 performances and they are all free to people coming downtown for food, fun and entertainment”.

Theatre will play a big part in this festival featuring six separate pieces.  Tara Duffy returns to present her hit comedy “PHAT LOVE and the thin girl”.  Doug McLaughlin of Tethersend Productions will bring us a one-man play called “Saucy Jack”, a graphic play about the serial killer Jack the Ripper.  Theatre Kent is thrilled to present “Bent”, a ground-breaking play about the persecution of gay Germans in 1930’s Nazi Germany.  A new group in in the community, the CK Dramatist Society, will present “10 by 10”, a night of 10-minute plays and musicals.  And lastly, Theatre Blarney will return with “The Funny Farmer”, first seen in 2008 at the Acorn Theatre in Wallaceburg with many other performances since then.

Music will play a big role in the 2010 festival with performances by local musicians and bands like Train Wreck, The CK Mountaineers, Blutonium, Jade Lester, Leia Weaver, Superfly, 8 Percent, Andy Tattersall, Falling Edge, Sarah Hiltz, Brooke Nicholls, The Sarah Hiltz Band, The Southwest Blues Review, The Long Lots, Finding Core, and The Ken Crone Trio.

“Dances in the Park” will present its second festival this year following an extremely successful inaugural festival in 2009.  Dances in the Park adopted a very simple mandate this past year: “Dances in the Park aims to present original and unique contemporary dance to the community with all local choreographers and dancers.”  Choreographers for this year are Chris Rich, Lisa Lester-Harris, Emily Kennedy, Mark Reinhart, Jamie Johnston and 2 emerging choreographers Dakota Hodgson and Heather Kosik.  Dances in the Park will be held July 15, 16, 17 @ 7:00 pm with an added matinee at 2:00 pm on July 17th.

There are many other activities during the 2010 CK On the Edge festival including a film competition called “3 DAYS On the Edge”, a photo competition called “Alter’d On the Edge” and a workshop opportunity for young people called “Acting for Film & TV”.  There will be a world premiere radio broadcast by local playwright David Farquhar and a performance by the award winning CKSS Improv Team.  Visual artists will exhibit throughout the downtown, and the Downtown Chatham Centre will be buzzing with activity inside and out.   There isn’t a corner of the downtown that we’ve left untouched by some kind of art!!

Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, May 21st at 10:00 am through www.cktickets.com. All the details will be on the “CK On the Edge” website by that day including artist bios, images, videos, date, time and venue of their performance.  Tickets are on sale right now to members only.  Membership starts at only $20 for the year.  Information can be found on our website at www.ckontheedge.com.

Call the Cultural Centre Box Office for more information or to purchase a membership and tickets – 519.354.8338 or 1.866.807.7770.