Best Festival

The Halifax Jazz Festival is this year’s gold winner for Best Festival, surprising no one. The city’s premiere music festival manages to pull guests from all around the world—artists covering genres of all kinds, from indie rock to rap. The 2024 festival saw Killer Mike, Fitz and The Tantrums, Emmylou Harris, Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers, Matt Anderson, and The War and Treaty, amongst several others on the waterfront main stage. Their 2025 lineup so far includes Iron & Wine and The Decemberists. “I think what’s so great about this particular award is that it’s a public opinion,” says executive director Tenille Goodspeed. “There are people out in our community who are voting us Best Festival and that just means, I think, more than any of us can put into words, because what we do we do for our community, and having them love us right back is amazing.”