Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Drayton Festival. Located in my riding, the Drayton Festival will conclude its sixth season on Sunday, October 6.
A true success story, the festival has quickly grown from 16,000 tickets sold in 1991 to 60,000 this year. Running from May to October, the 21-week season is the third longest running summer theatre in Ontario.
This season the most popular show was a Canadian musical play about the second world war as seen through the eyes of six Canadian soldiers. Extremely popular with all audiences and heavily supported by the Royal Canadian Legion, the show was 98 per cent sold out.
The theatre, which receives no government money, recently launched a $1.5 million capital campaign to renovate its historic building. To date over $500,000 has been raised.
As you can see, Mr. Speaker, the success of the theatre is phenomenal, especially when you consider it is located in a village with a population of 1,300.