With almost everything in place permit-wise, the Musical Muskrat Festival, June 11-13 is gearing up to be bigger and better this year.
Planning committee member Jay Marston was at the meeting of North Huron council on May 17 to bring feedback from letters sent to Park Drive and surrounding streets regarding a noise bylaw exemption.
Council asked the committee at the last meeting, when the exemption was initially requested, to send letters to the residents in Riverside Park proximity for feedback on the noise and also about closing Park Drive on the Sunday of the festival for the antique car show. (Although organizers are now expecting they will be able to keep it open, since the cars will be shown in the baseball field.)
Marston said they did get a bit of opposition to the noise bylaw exemption, but the majority were supportive or didn’t respond.
“We assume no news is good news,” Marston said.
Council passed a motion to extend the noise bylaw until midnight on the Friday and 1 a.m. on the Saturday.
They also approved a permit to close Park Drive in case the baseball field is too soggy, the cars can be parked on the street, otherwise the street will remain open.
The noise allowance will be for live bands to perform both nights. There will also be a DJ dance on the Saturday night.
Marston did say however, that the tent will be closed off towards the town, and will be open toward the river, so the sound will be projected away from the houses, and he said the music “won’t be heavy metal, but it will be louder than normal.”
As part of the tradition, there will be the Friday night t-ball game for the youngsters, the Rib-off, and the chicken and rib dinner.
The Saturday will include the popular Mighty Maitland Regatta, the firefighter games, as well as the Wingham Minor Hockey barbecue.  
New this year is the Ontario arm wrestling competition on Saturday evening.
Committee members are also saying they expect attendance to be up this year with the addition of the live music, the car show, arm wrestling, and they’ve extended activities to the Sunday as well, where it used to only run on the Friday and Saturday.