Stonetown Heritage Festival 2026: A Free Day in Downtown St. Marys

Vendors, heritage tours, live music, and a kids zone fill the streets of “The Stone Town”

📍 Get Directions Full Schedule

Downtown St. Marys fills with a vendor village, heritage tours, a trackless train, and live entertainment all day, then hands off to the Kinsmen Summerfest midway and concert for an evening finale.

🆓 Free admission 🚌 Free shuttle 👨‍👩‍👧 Kids Zone 🏛 Heritage tours

💡 Skip the downtown parking hunt — free shuttles loop continuously from the Pyramid Recreation Centre and St. Marys Hospital straight to Town Hall and the Green Bridge.

Why Go Schedule Heritage Tours Summerfest Essentials Getting There Tips FAQ

✨ A Hometown Festival With Real Range

St. Marys has earned its nickname “The Stone Town” from the limestone buildings that still line its downtown, and the Stonetown Heritage Festival leans straight into that history. It’s a free, single-day celebration of the cultures, stories, and history that shape the town, mixing heritage walking tours and a vendor village with a kids zone, live music, and a magician working the crowd.

What makes it stand out is the sheer range packed into one Saturday: you can take a heritage walking tour past century-old limestone architecture in the morning, browse vendors from across Ontario at midday, and ride a trackless train downtown from Milt Dunnell Field in the afternoon — all without spending a dollar.

And the day doesn’t have to end at 4 PM. The festival flows directly into the Kinsmen Summerfest midway and an evening of live music, making this the de facto finale of the town’s whole Stonetown Summer Series.

🕐 Saturday, July 25 Schedule

Everything happens on one day, but activities are staggered throughout downtown — here’s how the day unfolds.

🏛 Heritage Walking & Bus Tours

Free guided tours run throughout the day to explore the history behind “The Stone Town.” Registration details were still to be announced as of this writing, so check the official festival page closer to the date.

🚶 Thames River Walking Tour – 10 AM 🚶 Heritage Walking Tour – 11 AM 🚶 Trout Creek Walking Tour – 12 PM 🚌 Bus Tours – 11 AM–3 PM

The Stonetown Art Gallery will also have programming on the day — details were still to be confirmed at the time of writing, so check back on the official page.

🎡 Kinsmen Summerfest: The Evening Finale

The free festival hands off to the St. Marys Kinsmen Summerfest as the sun goes down, marking the finale of the town’s Stonetown Summer Series. The midway runs from noon to 5 PM at Milt Dunnell Field, followed by a full night of live music.

Unlike the daytime heritage festival, Summerfest requires its own separately purchased ticket — check the Kinsmen Summerfest website for pricing and the evening’s performer lineup.

📋 Essentials

🚗 Getting There & Parking

The festival centres on Town Hall and the surrounding downtown streets, with activities radiating out to Milt Dunnell Field and the Green Bridge.

Free shuttle: Continuous loop from 8 AM–4 PM, with pick-up points at the Pyramid Recreation Centre and St. Marys Hospital parking lot, dropping off at Town Hall or the Green Bridge. Courtesy of the Downtown St. Marys BIA.

Driving downtown: Street parking in the downtown core fills up quickly on festival day, so the shuttle lots are the easier bet if you’re coming from outside town.

💡 A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go

🚌 Park outside downtown and shuttle in. The free continuous loop from the Pyramid Recreation Centre and the hospital is the easiest way to avoid hunting for street parking.

🌅 Go early for the farmers’ market. It wraps up at noon, well before most of the rest of the festival even gets going, so don’t leave it for the afternoon.

🎟️ Plan ahead for the evening. If you want to stay for Kinsmen Summerfest’s live music or the Ghost Walk, buy those tickets in advance since they’re sold separately from the free daytime festival.

📋 Check back before you go. The town notes that vendor lineups, the art gallery program, and tour registration details were all still being finalized — worth a quick look at the official page the week of the festival.

❓ Common Questions