A man with a disco ball for a head at the 2025 Woodstove Festival. (Joe Pugh / CHLY 101.7FM)

A free outdoor stage at this year's Woodstove Music and Arts Festival is giving attendees a chance to enjoy live music without a coveted ticket for the sold out festival.

The Paige Stage will host the festival's opening ceremony Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Village Square Park. Named in honour of Diana Paige, a founding member of the Cumberland Culture and Arts Society who passed away in May of 2025, the stage will offer free performances throughout all three days of the festival.

Among Saturday night's performers is Cumberland-based band Ofcosmos. Formed in 2019, the group blends world, folk, rock and psychedelic influences.

Band member Iain Young said audiences can expect a set that builds from slower, folk-inspired sounds into heavier rock.

“We're gonna start with a slow burner and bring her up to a boil for the audience. So they should expect to feel some really great music and do a bit of dancing,” said Young.

For the band, this is their fourth year playing at Woodstove. Band member Liam Dalrymple said the festival has expanded since its early days as a small gathering of singer-songwriters and local bands.

Lineups for physical ticket releases where long for the 2026 event. (Supplied)

“I remember the very first Woodstove, I remember just walking up the street and hearing people just in a couple of little venues, just singer-songwriters, and thinking, ‘What is going on?’ Found out that it was Woodstove. Then the following year it got a little bit bigger, a few more venues came involved, it was still very singer-songwriter based and local bands,” Dalrymple said.

“And then it started taking off, and there was a lot of worldy vibes coming, EDM, a bit heavier rock started showing up. And then last year we started seeing fast sellouts, and queues at doors for venues.”

Dalrymple said the festival is an important space for artists to connect and share their work.

“It's really important for artists to have these showcases in small communities, because art is such a lonely thing to– it can be a lonely thing to enter, you know? It's all internal and internalized, and sometimes to share that with a lot of other artists in one space makes people, artists in communities not feel so alone, not feel like they're the only one sharing, the worry and the anxieties of judgment,” Dalrymple said.

Young encouraged people without a ticket to participate in the free events.

“It's really important for all the people who don't have tickets that wanna come and be a part of it. That's what I tell people, I'm like, ‘You don't have a ticket? Well, just come anyways and walk around.’ There's a free stage. There's a DJ area. Cub Space is free. And you can still be part of it without having a ticket,” said Young.

Alongside the Paige Stage, the Cub Space will host DJ performances for free, throughout all three days of the event.

The festival also features a free artisan market at Moncrief Hall, inside the Cumberland Cultural Centre on Dunsmuir Avenue. The market runs Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5:00 p.m., giving visitors another way to take part in the festival without a ticket.

The Cumberland branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library will also host free performances on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Dalrymple said the free programming can be a way for newcomers to experience the festival before committing to a ticket.

“ And if you're unsure and you haven't been to a festival like that before, you might as well come try it out by coming to the Paige Stage, and going, ‘Do I like, this amount of people in one room? Do I like this experience?’ And it opens the door, you know,” Dalrymple said.

Woodstove kicks off with the Paige Stage at 5:30 p.m. at Village Square Park on Dunsmuir Avenue. The opening ceremony will feature performances by the Kumugwe Cultural Society Dancers, alongside remarks from Cumberland Mayor Vickey Brown, Cumberland Culture and Arts Society president Charlotte Burrows and festival executive director Tereza Tomek.

For more information and schedules, visit woodstovefestival.ca

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

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