FEO 2026 Municipality of the Year Awards

Kitchener, Ontario – Festivals and Events Ontario (FEO) is proud to announce the 2026 Municipality of the Year Awards, presented by OLG. The Award is intended for the festivals and events industry to openly encourage, support, learn from and recognize positive local environments for festivals and events provincially. Through this special award, FEO is pleased to recognize those municipalities, towns or cities and markets who have worked, through concentrated efforts, to provide an atmosphere beneficial to successful festivals and events.

Submissions from FEO members were received for consideration in the fall of 2025 and were judged by an independent panel of judges. Ontario Municipalities and festivals and events within their regions were represented in the submissions. The Municipality of the Year Awards were given out on Wednesday, February 25th during FEO’s Annual Conference “SUSTAIN” in Kitchener, Ontario.

FEO would like to congratulate the 2026 Municipality of the Year recipients under the following three categories:

Population less than 50,000
City of Port Colborne

Population more than 50,000 and less than 150,000
Town of Newmarket

Population of 150,000 or more
City of Kitchener

The “SUSTAIN” 2026 Festivals & Events Ontario Conference was held in Kitchener, Ontario from February 23-25, 2026.