CITYnews Halifax: Street performers bring hundreds of thousands to Halifax’s 40th busker festival

CITYnews Halifax: By Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — More than 400,000 people are expected to take in the work of jugglers, acrobats and other street performers as the 40th edition of the Halifax Busker Festival invades the city’s waterfront.

The six-day festival is the oldest of its kind in North America.

Festival director Christina Edwards says about 30 per cent of the crowd comes from outside Nova Scotia.

The buskers themselves come from all over the world and perform at one of four stages.

This year they come from Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Estonia, Canada and the U.S.

At the end of their performance they pass the hat, with the public paying whatever they see fit.

“Really Canada (has) the most busker festivals, probably in North America. We are the oldest and longest-running one. There’s not many in the United States,” Edwards said in an interview.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2026.

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press