FEO 2025 Award Winners and Top 100
Best New Festival or Event
Operating Budget of $100,000 or less – Oshawa Indigenous Cultural Celebration
Operating Budget of $100,000 to $500,000 – Easter Fun Fest Markham
Operating Budget of $500,000 or more – Norfolk County Fairgrounds Festival
Best Promotional Campaign
Operating Budget of $100,000 or less – Discovery Harbour Pumpkinferno
Operating Budget of $100,000 to $500,000 – Toronto Waterfront Festival
Operating Budget of $500,000 or more – Port Colborne Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival
Best Social Media Campaign
Norfolk County Fair and Horse Show
FEO Impact Award
Operating Budget of $100,000 or less – Oshawa Indigenous Cultural Celebration
Operating Budget of $100,000 to $500,000 – Markham Little Native Hockey League Tournament
Operating Budget of $500,000 or more – Sunfest London
FEO Innovation Award
Operating Budget of $500,000 or more – Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest
Sponsor of the year
Operating Budget of $100,000 or less – Brantford Scare in the Square sponsored by: Millard Rouse & Rosebrugh LLP
Operating Budget of $100,000 to $500,000 – Waterloo Busker Carinal sponsored by: Sunlife Canada
Operating Budget of $500,000 or more – Port Colborne Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival sponsored by: GIO Railways
Best Volunteer Program
Airshow London Skydrive
Municipality of the Year
Population less than 50,000
Town of Georgina
Population more than 50,000 and less than 150,000
City of Pickering
Population of 150,000 or more
City of Markham
Hall of Fame
Peter Gismondi – Superior Events Group
Pat Silver – SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival
Youth Volunteer of the Year
Sadie Phillips – Riverfest Elora
Volunteer of the Year
Steve Deighton – Dundas Cactus Festival
2025 Top 100 Ontario Festivals & Events:
RTO 1 - SOUTHWEST ONTARIO TOURISM REGION
Amherstburg Open Air Weekends
Amherstburg River Lights Winter Festival
Amherstburg TRUEfest
Amherstburg Uncommon Festival
Bright Lights Windsor
Chatham Retrofest
Eat and Drink Norfolk
Norfolk County Fair & Horse Show
Oxford Renaissance Festival
RTO 2 - NIAGARA FALLS AND WINE COUNTRY TOURISM REGION
Balls Falls Thanksgiving Festival
Niagara Falls Winter Festival of Lights
Niagara Grape and Wine Festival
Niagara Jazz Festival
Pelham Summer Chill Series
Port Colborne Canal Days Marine Heritage Festival
Welland Concerts on the Canal
RTO 3 - HAMILTON, HALTON AND BRANT TOURISM REGION
Burlington Sound of Music Festival
Brantford International Villages Cultural Festival
Dundas Cactus Festival
Hamilton Day
Hamilton Winterfest
Re-Enactment of the Battle of Stoney Creek
St. George AppleFest
Winona Peach Festival
RTO 4 - HURON, PERTH, WATERLOO AND WELLINGTON TOURISM REGION
Cambridge Winterfest
Fergus Scottish Festival & Highland Games
Goderich Salt and Harvest Festival
Huron Multicultural Festival
Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest Bingemans Kool Haus
Riverfest Elora
Sunlife Waterloo Busker Carnival
The Mount Forest Fireworks Festival
RTO 5 - GREATER TORONTO AREA TOURISM REGION
Canadian International Airshow
Canadian National Exhibition (CNE)
Carassauga Festival of Cultures
Celebrate Toronto
Festival of South Asia
Mississauga Italfest
Muslimfest
PanAmerican Food and Music Festival
Pumpkinfest Toronto
SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival
Southside Shuffle Blues & Jazz Festival
TD Salsa in Toronto Festival
Toronto Waterfront Festival
RTO 6 - YORK, DURHAM AND HILLS OF HEADWATERS TOURISM REGION
Aurora’s Concerts in the Park
Aurora's Haunted Forest
Aurora’s Multicultural Festival
Caledon Day
Easter Fun Fest Markham
Georgina Field to Table
Markham Canada Day
Markham Jazzlicious
Markham-Milliken Children’s Festival
Markham Museum Applefest
Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival
Oshawa Canada Day
Oshawa Convergence Music and Art Festival
Oshawa Indigenous Cultural Celebration
Oshawa Kars on King
Oshawa Peony Festival
Pickering Cultural Fusion
Whitby Brooklin Harvest Festival
RTO 7 - BRUCE PENINSULA, SOUTHERN GEORGIAN BAY AND LAKE SIMCOE TOURISM REGION
Barrie Canada Day on the Move
Barrie Downtown Countdown
Barrie Game On! After Dark
Barrie Winterfest
Carnival Barrie
Clearview Small Halls Festival
Collingwood Art Crawl
Collingwood Fashion Week
Collingwood Sidelaunch Days
Kempenfest
Kincardine Lighthouse Blues Festival
Lucknow’s Music in the Fields
Ontario's Best Butter Tart Festival Midland
Pumpkinferno Discovery Harbour
Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons – First Light Festival
Salsa at Blue Mountain
Trail Tunes – Collingwood, Clearview and Wasaga Beach
RTO 8 - KAWARTHA AND NORTHUMBERLAND TOURISM REGION
Brighton Applefest
Buckhorn Festival of the Arts
International Plowing Match
Port Hope Arts Festival
Port Hope Candlelight Festival
RTO 9 - SOUTHEASTERN ONTARIO TOURISM REGION
Quinte West Hops on the Water
Quinte West Pop Ups
Quinte West The Great Summer Carnival
RTO 10 - OTTAWA AND COUNTRYSIDE TOURISM REGION
Ottawa Children’s Festival
Ottawa Jazz Festival
RTO 11 - HALIBURTON HIGHLANDS TO THE OTTAWA VALLEY TOURISM REGION
Bancroft Rockhound Gemboree
Hike Haliburton Festival
Tweed & Company Theatre Season
RTO 12 - MUSKOKA, PARRY SOUND AND ALGONQUIN PARK TOURISM REGION
Festival of the Sound
RTO 13 - NORTHERN ONTARIO TOURISM REGION
Dryden Fall Fest
Fort William Historical Park - Anishinaabe Keeshigun
Sioux Lookout Blueberry Festival
Thunder Bay Live on the Waterfront
Thunder Bay Teddy Bear Picnic
Thunder Bay Quest Tech and Gaming