What the Local Press Says About UAFest

A community festival earns its place slowly, and one reliable sign of that is who shows up to write about it. Over three seasons the newsrooms of Lanark County and the Ottawa Valley have covered UAFest as a fixture of the region’s calendar: the crowds, the charity behind the day, the council decision that changed how the festival runs, and this year a European record crossing the Atlantic to Carleton Place.

In September 2024, Lanark-Leeds Today reported from the park on the first day of fall — a Ukrainian children’s choir on stage, the traditional flag unrolling that drew cheers across the field, and proceeds directed to mental-health rehabilitation programs for children and families in Ukraine.

A year later, 107.7 WOW FM spoke with festival director Olga Ialovenko ahead of the 2025 edition and put the numbers on the record: past 4,000 guests expected, a volunteer crew reaching well beyond the Ukrainian community, and a Carleton Place town council decision designating UAFest a culturally significant event. Her invitation to the Valley was three words long: come out, you’re sure to enjoy yourself.

This August, Hometown News carried the story that takes the festival past the county line: the Rushnyk of Unity — 160.5 metres of embroidery, certified as a European Record in Tallinn — makes its North American debut at Riverside Park on September 13, 2026.

“A rushnyk was once sewn only by mothers and grandmothers, by blood, for one family. Now it's stitched by anyone who believes unity matters more than bloodline. Come see it begin here, in a small town — and add your own thread to a story that will outlast us all.”

— Olga Ialovenko, festival director, to Hometown News

Read the coverage

Hometown News — European record-setting embroidered cloth to make North American debut in Carleton Place (August 2026) · 107.7 WOW FM — What’s Good in the Valley (September 2025) · Lanark-Leeds Today — Ukrainian Festival draws big crowd in Carleton Place (September 2024). Writing about the 2026 festival? Our press page has the facts, photos and contacts.