Impact Reports
The real numbers, year by year: how UAFest has grown, and who it has helped — no polished annual PDF yet.
The honest version of an impact report
What we have is real: how many people showed up each year, and which charity partner the festival supported. That's what this page is — no invented totals, no fundraising figures we can't stand behind. (A glossy annual report to hand you? Not yet — we're a 100% volunteer-run festival, three years in.)
Growth & charity partnerships, 2023–2026
UAFest's first year — born out of a garage sale that same spring. Proceeds funded Christmas gifts for 50 children in the Kharkiv region, delivered through our charity partner Rotary for Kids of Heroes.
Attendance roughly tripled in year two. UAFest's charity partner that year was Save Ukraine — a $9,395 cheque was presented to the foundation's founder at a formal ceremony in October 2024, together with the Mayor of Carleton Place.
More than 4,000 people filled Riverside Park. UAFest's charity partner for 2025 was Kids of Ukraine, a nonprofit supporting the mental and emotional recovery of children and families affected by the war.
UAFest 2026 took place on Sunday, September 13, at Riverside Park in Carleton Place, with Kids of Ukraine as the charity partner for a second year. The organizing team is still tallying the day's headcount; the figure will appear here once it is confirmed.
What UAFest brings to Carleton Place & Lanark County
The festival's impact isn't only measured in what it sends to Ukraine. It's also a free, one-day cultural event that fills Riverside Park and puts local businesses in front of thousands of visitors.
Carleton Place is about 45 minutes from Ottawa, roughly 20 minutes from Perth and about 1 hour 15 minutes from Kingston — festival day draws visitors from across the region into town.
Directions & parking →The festival market gives local vendors, makers and food businesses a booth in front of one of the biggest one-day crowds in Lanark County.
Become a vendor →In 2024, the Carleton Place Community Enrichment Program and Council approved $1,500 of in-kind support for the festival — formal backing from the town itself.
See the civic recognition ↓One number that says it all
Handed to Save Ukraine at a formal ceremony with the Mayor of Carleton Place, October 2024.
Recognized beyond the festival grounds
The clearest proof that the festival's giving is real: the people and institutions who showed up for it in 2024, on the record.
At a formal ceremony in October 2024, the festival's $9,395 cheque was presented together with Toby Randell, Mayor of Carleton Place, to Save Ukraine's founder Mykola Kuleba.
In 2024, the Carleton Place Community Enrichment Program and Council approved the festival's application for $1,500 of in-kind support — formal backing from the festival's home town.
For the 2024 festival, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada sent warm words and a Ukrainian flag that added a note of ceremony to the day.
Kids of Ukraine — support is still open
UAFest's 2025–2026 charity partner is Kids of Ukraine, supporting the mental and emotional recovery of children and families affected by the war. The festival collects for the campaign through its own channels — card, Interac e-Transfer, cheque — and publishes the total raised and the transfer to the foundation after the season, the way the $9,395 cheque to Save Ukraine was published in 2024.
Rotary for Kids of Heroes (2023), Save Ukraine (2024), and Kids of Ukraine (2025–2026) — a different cause each year, chosen by the volunteer organizing team, always with a direct line from festival proceeds to the partner organization.
Every year, UAFest publishes open reports that highlight our activities, partnerships, and the impact made across the community — because transparency builds trust and invites more people to join the mission.
Annual PDF reports will be linked here as they are published.
In the meantime, ongoing results — funds raised, beneficiaries, and community outcomes — will also appear as articles under the Impact Reports category on our News page as they're published.
Impact Reports — FAQ
We don't have a downloadable annual report published yet. This page is our honest, numbers-first substitute for now — real attendance figures and real charity partnerships, year by year, with no invented totals. Annual PDF reports will be linked here as they are published.
The campaign total, and the transfer to the foundation, are published after the season, so this page carries no running number. Every gift is recorded on the day it lands — see the ways to give, or visit the Donate page for more on how funds are used.
They're the same verified figures UAFest uses across the site (see the About page's origin story) — self-reported by the volunteer organizing team from festival-day headcounts, ticketing and gate estimates, not a third-party audit.
Yes — ongoing results, funds raised, beneficiary stories and community outcomes will be published as articles under the Impact Reports category on our News page as they happen, rather than waiting for a single annual document.
Have a different question? See the full FAQ.