Mattawa Voyageur Days tried for 17 years to get Alan Doyle and Great Big Sea.
He proved it was worth the wait Sunday night by bringing his high energy show to a large and enthusiastic crowd to close out the 19th Birthday Bash edition of the popular event.
Doyle fronted his new group, The Beautiful Gypsies and played a mix of rock and roll and ballads while remarking many times about the beauty of the area and how much he had looked forward to visiting Mattawa.
He took advantage, he told the audience, by swimming in both the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers earlier in the day in the town where two rivers meet.
The Devin Cuddy Band opened the show. Friday was headlined by Doc Walker and Saturday by Vince Neil of Motley Crue.
The future of music festivals in the area has been questioned recently but spokesman Jacques Begin left no doubt about Voyageur days, telling the crowd,"It's year 20 next year. We're gonna rock with you guys here on Explorer's Point. We're gonna rock as part of Canada's 150th birthday!"
While not a sellout, Begin told BayToday that he was "absolutely happy" with the weekend's turnout.
"We sold enough to be satisfied. Whether we made money or not is another thing, but what it does is create a great economic spinoff to the community and people just had a blast all weekend." An estimated 3,000 wristbands were sold.
And Begin vowed this isn't the end.
"It's absolutely incredible how many times I've ben asked that, the mayor's been asked that. People are saying 'make sure this isn't the last one', so stay tuned, we'll see where it goes but there will be a Voyageur Days next year."
The weekend ended with a spectacular 15-minute fireworks display.
