The Cactus Festival

The Cactus Festival.

The Cactus Festival is Dundas’s end of the summer festival, we start on Thursday night with the Cactus Parade and then go until Sunday afternoon with the Festival. There are people performing, food trucks, booths from the local businesses as well as artisans from the area.

I myself was in the parade for many years with Just 4 Kicks, one of our local dance studios. So the cactus festival is something that is part of my history too.

This festival has been running since 1979, and has been organised by local volunteers for years. The history behind this festival is intriguing to say the least, in the 1970s, Dundas was known internationally as the Cactus Capital of Canada Ben Veldhuis and his greenhouses were the primary producers of Cacti.

The greenhouses no longer stand, though there is one brick chimney stack left. Amongst the grasses and paths beside the Desjardins Canal, it stands apart from the butterfly garden that is in the area now.

If you want to learn more about Dundas, go and visit! We have an amazing museum on Park St, it’s the best place to learn about local history.