(NIAGARA FALLS) Up, down, and sideways. That's how the planning for this years St. Catharines Buskerfest has gone.And now, it's going, going, gone all the way to Queen Street in downtown Niagara Falls. As the organization says, "Plans to re-stage the festival in 2012 appeared to be over."

The on-again, off-again antics have some buskers wanting to barrel over Horseshoe Falls.

On Thursday, Lyndesfarne announced Buskerfest Niagara, previously known as the St. Catharines International Busker Festival, will go ahead on Queen Street Niagara Falls over Labour Day weekend.

Buskerfest Niagara 2012 will feature more than 150 performances, vendors, special performances, and record-breaking attempts for the Guinness Book of World Records.

“Busker festivals have been gaining popularity all over Canada i...

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Website: www.stcbuskerfest.com

The inaugural St Catharines International Busker Festival will welcome artists from around the globe performing over 100 acts during the three days of the Festival. All performances will take place in downtown St Catharines with the temporary closure of James St. to Church Street, and a sweeping corridor along King Street to include Market Square. Performances are slated for six stages (5 outdoor) as buskers entertain crowds with unforgettable acts. The festival is a community event for all ages and marks the first of its kinds in the Niagara Peninsula.

Niagara Inflatables Kidz Stage will host an inflatable playground for children to welcome the youngest of us into a world of make believe. Suitcase in Point Theatre Company (SIP) along with Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects (LTP) will produce The Late Night Cabaret (Saturday, August 13, 2011) with creative staff Deanna Lynn Jones and all Buskers. Visit the website for more details!

I've been performing Magic for over 10 years now and I just started busking in Santa Monica. I'll keep you posted as it goes. See you all soon!

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The city has launched a program to encourage performers to display their talents at designated downtown spots billed as “busk stops.”

Known as “Busk Stop Central,” the program will allow performers – including jug musicians, avant-garde mimes, tap-dancers, orange jugglers, rubber-band pluckers, bongo players, Flamenco guitarists, spoken-verse poets, Austin Powers imitators, Renaissance Fair re-enactors and other artists – to legally do their thing at specified downtown locations and receive donations from passers-by.

“Busk” refers to an old English term for street performers, known as “buskers.”

A performer must apply for a free city permit to perform at one of three designated areas, all on State Street. The busk stops are marked with medallions in the sidewalk.

For details, contact the Bristol D...

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(YORK) City Halls often see busking as a potential problem to be managed and restricted. The victory with the York City Council resulted in a document designed to encourage and welcome buskers from all over the world.An online petition was started by the Keep Streets Live Campaign. It was signed by over 4000 people and called on York to scrap their restrictive policy and work with the busking community to produce new guidance. It seems while one town is outlawing busking and street performing, another is begging for buskers to revitalize their historic and shopping districts.

The York document may influence London's policy that criminalizes street musicians. A campaign has been set up to challenge it and protect Britain's public spaces. The Camden dispute has organized buskers consulting in the House of Lords, taking the...

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