Thousands of people took in three nights of live music in the heart of Timmins over the weekend.
For the first time, the Rock on the River music festival was three days this year featuring headliners Dean Brody, Bret Michaels and Live.
"It's just overall a good, feel-good weekend for us to see. With just a lot of stuff going on in Timmins, it's nice to have a really positive event like this," said John Olaveson, Timmins Festivals and Events Committee (TFEC) chair.
"We see all the comments and all that stuff. It's just very positive. It's hard on the group because we put a lot of hours in, so it's nice to be ... recognized and complimented."
A total of 7,284 tickets were sold for the three days, with Friday being the most popular night.
"Friday was really pleasing to see, everyone was interacting with the artists, the artist was really happy and the crowd was really loud. Dee Snider mentioned to me, he says it sounds a little like 80,000 people. Obviously, he's exaggerating, but it's just the interaction with the artists the crowd was really good Friday," said Olaveson.
For the Friday show, former Poison frontman Bret Michaels brought his Parti-Gras to town with special guests Dee Snider and Steve Augeri. Before they hit the stage, Lita Ford, Honeymoon Suite and local band Ruuster entertained the crowd.
A night of country music kicked off the festival, Eric Girard and the Travelers kicked off the action, followed by Tim Hicks and Dean Brody.
As is tradition, a rock night wrapped up the festival. It saw Live, Buckcherry, Danko Jones and Puddy on stage.
The switch to three nights was to allow for more genres, and to help spread the cost of the stage over three days. It also meant additional costs such as security, which Olaveson said is led by an Ottawa firm.
When the committee sits down to debrief in a couple of weeks, whether or not the festival starts on Thursday will be one of the conversations.
Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of TFEC, the group behind the festival.
The planning for the 2025 edition will start in the coming weeks.
