golden horseshoe music festival
DIRECTORS UPDATES - ONGOING
Welcome Directors!
Stay tuned to this page for important (and ongoing) updates!! Anytime we send out a participant email blast/update leading up to the festival, it will get CC'd to this webpage, for easy access (so that you don't need to go digging through your emails!!)
WAYFINDING AND MOHAWK MAPS
Here are the updated facility maps which will show you where all of our rooms are on campus
Please note, you will all receive a hard copy of this when you arrive/check in at the reception desk. Also note, there are MANY MORE large (standalone) signs this year. In the event that you or your students get turned around, the signage will be abundant and much easier to see and understand. This also goes for the rare occasions if you need to find your way between one room and another during your circuit time.
** for those schools/directors who attended in 2026, All of the stages and clinic/warm up rooms are in the exact same locations at Mohawk.**
GENERAL TIPS FOR GETTING AROUND – FOLLOW THE NEW SIGNS and remember:
Stage A, Clinic A, Warm up A: Main floor. Clinic and Warm up A are much closer to the back entrance of the MPAC auditorium, accessed from 1st floor
Warm up B: Basically at the bottom of the main (Cafeteria) stairwell and start walking into the long “E WING” Hallway, its one of the first rooms on your right.
Stage B, Clinic B, Photos: Keep walking down the LONG “E WING” Hallway, follow the signs!
Stage C, Clinic C, Warm up C: Again, bottom of the main stairwell and follow the signs which will guide you through the main food court and eating/seating area. All 3 of these rooms will follow. *For those of you who attended in 2025, Stage C is the same room as last year’s Clinic Room A (Room # C066)
Driving Directions for School Busses:
From the Lincoln Alexander Parkway: Head north on Garth Street, Turn right (east) onto Fennell Avenue West, and turn right into the Mohawk College Main Bus Loop at 135 Fennell Ave West.
Parking Directions for School Busses:
Turn right (south) onto West 5th St, and then right again (west) onto Governors Blvd. Follow the roadway to the P9 parking lot, where the busses can park for any number of hours while the groups are onsite.
Driving Directions for Parents/Cars:
The entire festival will be held at Mohawk College, 135 Fennell Ave West
We recommend that you use P5 or P7 parking lots, enter the building through the F wing doors, and follow our signage to reception. THE CLOSEST ROOM to our reception area is C124A. We are located behind the MPAC Concert Hall – but – very close to the Main “NORTH” Entrance of the college.
CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF THE CAMPUS
PARENTS, FRIENDS, EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO COME AND WATCH
CLICK HERE FOR THE PARENT LETTER (or visit the FOR PARENTS PAGE on the site)
Here are the highlights from the letter:
-
Admission via donation - there will be card tapping stations with recommended amounts of $5, $10, or $15. We appreciate your support!
-
Food services and opening hours – bring money for lunch or snacks!
-
Photos are $25, point of sale and printing is all onsite
-
Parking lots (yes, they do cost $$, the machines to pay are in the lots themselves – done by license plate # or by using the HONK Mobile parking app). Location / zone # 5760 in the app.
CIRCUIT TIME SAMPLE – PERFORMANCE SLOT 10:15AM STAGE B
9:00 AM Arrive/storage
9:45 AM Warm Up Room B
10:15 AM Stage B
10:45 AM Clinic Room B
11:15 AM Photo Studio
11:35 AM Storage and finished . Stay to watch some bands!!
FOOD SERVICES AND HOURS OF OPERATION FOR MEAL and SNACK PURCHASES AT THE GHMF
Excellent news, the main ON THE GO cafeteria, Tim Hortons Main store and the express (overflow) Kiosk, Pizza PIzza (Stage B) will all be open ! Tims will be 8am-6pm, the ON THE GO Cafeteria and Pizza Pizza will be 11-7. The MSA Cafe “Brewed Awakenings” (beside Stage B/Arnie) will also be open from 830-430.
ORDER YOUR CONDUCTOR SCORES ASAP PLEASE
Here is the excerpt from our Rules page. Please reply to this email if you have questions, if you need help with sourcing, etc. Shashi will help you QUICKLY:
-
Two additional original (whether they are bound or licensed PDF) copies of each score are required for adjudication purposes. **Please note, we require all participants to provide ALL scores per above. The OBA/GHMF will not be hosting the use of any conductor scores for the 2026 Festival. “On backorder/order” letters, receipts, proof of payments are NOT accepted alongside illegal photocopied scores.
If you are providing photocopies, these must be accompanied by a letter of licensing/reproduction permission from the **copyright holder only**. This is usually the publisher or the composer themselves (if it’s an independent composition). Retail stores **do not** have the authority to grant a permission to photocopy on behalf of a music publisher.
RECEPTIONS
As OBA Member teachers, you are invited to the Provincial Band Festival’s Friday night Reception at the Chinese Cultural Centre in Scarborough on Friday, February 12th after 630pm. We will give you more info next week, but just know – it’s a fun evening with an OPEN BAR, lots of great catered munchies, awards, and dozens and dozens of colleagues!
As for a GHMF specific reception, for this year – we are AIMING and planning for a HANG , after our festival tear down, in Hamilton at a local bar/restaurant within proximity to the college (so, likely 8pm or so, on Friday February 19, 2027)
More info on this will follow as we make our decisions on this – but – wherever it is, the first round will be on US!
