A tribute to Arthur McGregor
As reported on this site, Ottawa’s Arthur McGregor – musician, entrepreneur and community leader – was this year’s recipient of the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals‘ Estelle Klein Award for his contributions to the folk music community.
Once again this year, Roots Music Canada co-founder Andy Frank produced the Estelle Klein award tribute video, which debuted on Saturday, October 13 at the OCFF annual conference.
After the screening, both Arthur and Andy received standing ovations from the hundreds of OCFF members in attendance.
On Saturday night after Arthur’s acceptance of the Estelle Klein Award, Borealis Records hosted a hootenanny upstairs on one of the music floors of the OCFF Conference. I stopped by and was moved by the musical history in the room. Paul Mills, Grit Laskin, Eve Goldberg, Richard Knechtel, Bill Garrett and in the middle was Arthur smilin’ from ear to ear as together they played standard after standard. On the last tune of the night, as if symbolically, veterans acknowledged youth, as they all nodded in appreciation as muted trumpeter Mike Bourgeault added some subtle harmony to the mix … a memorable moment with Arthur shining brightly.