How UAFest Grew From 1,000 to 4,000 Guests in Three Years

The numbers tell their own story. About 1,000 people came to the very first Ukrainian Fest Lanark County in 2023 — a single day organized on short notice, funded by a garage sale. By 2024, that number had roughly tripled to more than 3,000. In 2025, more than 4,000 guests came through Riverside Park. For 2026, the goal is 5,000+.

Growth like that doesn't happen because a festival gets bigger for its own sake. It happens because something about the day is worth coming back for — and worth telling a friend about. Every year, the festival has added more of what people actually showed up for: more food, more music, more craft, more reasons to stay the whole afternoon.

The charity partnership has grown alongside it. In 2023, festival proceeds helped fund Christmas gifts for 50 children in the Kharkiv region. In 2024, the festival partnered with Save Ukraine; in 2025 and again in 2026, with Kids of Ukraine. Bigger crowds have meant a bigger difference for the families the festival was built to support in the first place.