Festival of art, music, and culture takes over Steeltown
Since 2009, Supercrawl has been attracting visitors from around the world. The three day festival, located in Hamilton’s downtown core, is specifically designed to showcase local, national, and international artists of all kinds. James Street N., Supercrawl’s main sprawl, blends much of the dichotomies that make up Hamilton. Combining the local ingenuity of young artists displaying and selling their craft on street corners with the often-problematic nouveau-riche influence of gentrification, Supercrawl exhibits Hamilton’s can-do attitude for better or for worse.
Regardless of the debates over gentrification and the potential problematic nature of Hamilton’s artistic community’s new slogan, “Art is the new Steel,” Supercrawl remains incredibly important evidence of the resiliency of art and its importance in everyday life.
Boasting mainly visual arts and music, Supercrawl has artistic installations dotted up and down the main-stretch, often with the artists actually constructing their pieces during the festival. Meanwhile, for music lovers, Supercrawl usually has no fewer than four stages. The main stage, located near the intersection of King and James, hosts the biggest acts, such as The Arkells last year and The Trews and Born Ruffians this year.
This year’s Supercrawl was unfortunately marked by quite a bit of rain, not that precipitation could keep people from enjoying their weekend. While the evenings usually saw the streets packed and mildly raucous, the daytimes saw young families with strollers and dogs, teenaged couples enjoying the sunshine, and groups of older patrons admiring booths, sculptures, and enjoying a stop or two (or three) at the food trucks.
Artistic highlights included José Luis Torres’ massive sculpture “Overflows,” Pete Fowler’s mural on the side of Dr. Disc, and Site 3 Fire Art’s “Riskee Ball” (an extremely popular attraction which was essentially a massive metal skee-ball rig on fire).
Whether you’re interested in art, music, food, supporting local entrepreneurs, or just doing something fun on a beautiful weekend, Supercrawl offers something for everyone. It is a celebration of human creativity at all levels and of all kinds. Supercrawl allows everyday folks to adopt the mantle of artist or art connoisseur or local foodie, and it is unique in that it shrugs off pretension and elitism and offers accessible art for all.
Photo courtesy of Supercrawl.