McGregor Music Festival raises $85k in 2025

The McGregor Music Festival committee, headed by Sue LeClair (bottom row, left) presents an $85,000 cheque to Bobbi Ross Burford (bottom row, right) of the Windsor-Essex Cancer Centre last Thursday evening. 

The McGregor Music Festival was presented for the 34^th time and it has again raised big bucks for the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation (WCCF).

This year’s festival was held June 8 at Co-An Park in McGregor, featuring eight bands, a pig auction, raffles, a car show, a rib dinner and large crowds. When the proceeds were tallied up, they totalled $85,000.

The McGregor Music Festival committee presented the cheque to the WCCF last Thursday night at the home of chair Sue LeClair.

“I like it,” LeClair said of the total. “We had a good day. We had 825 people in attendance. We had a lot of people show up. They bring their money.”

LeClair pointed out the proceeds will benefit the WCCF’s patient assistance fund.

In addition to people from Amherstburg and surrounding Windsor-Essex County attending the McGregor Music Festival, LeClair said she knew of people from the Chatham-Kent and Sarnia areas that came to the event as well.

The festival largely remains the same over the years and LeClair indicated that is by design. People enjoy coming out and do so every year, and that is a sign to the committee that what they are doing is working.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said LeClair.

Bobbi Ross Burford, finance and human resource manager with the WCCF, said bands return year-after-year and it is the music the public wants to hear.

LeClair thanked sponsors, donors, volunteers, the bands, and the people who showed up that day.

“Without them, we can’t do it,” said LeClair.

The next McGregor Music Festival will be held Sunday, June 14, 2026 and it will be the 35^th year. LeClair indicated the milestone year will look like past years with a few adjustments.

“We’re going to keep it the same but add a few things,” she said.

The patient assistance fund helps people diagnosed with cancer overcome financial challenges they may be facing.

“We feel grateful for doing it for them,” said LeClair.

Burford said the festival is a way to show that people come together for a great cause. It demonstrates that “no one has to fight alone when you bring so many people together for one cause.”

The festival also allows the WCCF to show more people about the work they are doing, Burford added.

“We are so lucky to live where we do, in such a generous community,” said Burford.

“It’s like a reunion,” added LeClair. “It’s a family reunion that brings everyone together.”

McGregor Music Festival raises $85k in 2025

By Ron Giofu