Fern Lafontaine from Moose Creek was one of two first time performers at the Winchester Open Mic Café in the Old Town Hall. He performed three songs, including one by Marty Robbins. Tinkess Photo

WINCHESTER – I love everything about Winchester’s Old Town Hall. The building has so much history and so much character. On a chilly January Sunday afternoon, it was a good place to be. There was a theatre rehearsal going on upstairs, but as you walked in the door the smell of freshly brewed coffee let you know that it must be an open-mic café Sunday.

Ann Brady is the driving force behind the Open Mic Café. “Actually, it’s the North Dundas Arts Council that runs things,” says Brady. “But I’m the North Dundas Arts Council.”

The café is beginning its thirteenth year in 2025. They did take a break during Covid, like most of the world, but they came back when things started to return to normal, so that they could offer the unique opportunity that is far too difficult to find. Admission is free, coffee is $1.00, the venue is accessible, and everyone is welcome. Restrictions on the entertainment? Well, there are none. You can sing, play an instrument, dance, or even read from something you’ve written. In the style of coffee houses around the world, the first step is getting in front of the mic, and what happens from there, well, who knows, and you’ll never know if you don’t try.

Something else that sets this open mic café apart is that it is dry (no alcohol), which means there are no age restrictions on who is allowed entry. Brady says that as far as she is aware there aren’t many that can make that claim.

“We’ve had young kids coming here because we’re alcohol free,” said Brady. “We’re a dry Coffee House. There’s three of us in the Ottawa Valley that we know of, and apparently CBC, or CFRA is going to do a little feature about that.

“But because of that, we can welcome all ages here,  and a lot of people bring their service dogs, and they sleep under the tables.”

Brady has tried to recreate the feel of 1960’s coffee house, like the renowned Café Le Hibou coffee house in Ottawa’s Byward Market which frequently hosted the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Murray McLauchlan, Leonard Cohen, and Bruce Coburn. Gordon Lightfoot even performed there early in his career.

And while the talent at the Old Town Hall isn’t quite that calibre, it still captures that magic that anyone brave enough to get in front of a crowd experiences. We all like to dream.

Part of the magic comes from the venue itself, and full credit to everyone who prevented the Old Town Hall from disintegrating like so many classic venues who had “outlived their usefulness.”

“That was one of the things when, when I first moved out here,” said Brady. “This was just a cobwebbed space. I moved out here almost 19 years ago, and I took over the open mic summer series because there was a student just doing it as a thing with the township. I said, well, I’ll keep it going. So, I did, and that was in August 2012.

“We used to have it inside the theater,” adds Brady, “One night there was hardly anybody here, and one of the musicians said, why don’t we sit out here, (in the lobby area) so Anne can hear the music too? All of a sudden it flashed, let’s put it here, and we’ve been here ever since, and it’s so much nicer. People really like this ambience.”

For the first show of 2025 there are only a handful of people, but two of the performers are new to the Open Mic experience. Fern Lafontaine, from Moose Creek performed three songs in his first set, accompanying himself on guitar. He was followed by Kathy Anderson from Winchester, also a guitarist and a fan of John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot. Both did very well.

For more information on Open Mic at the Old Town Hall in Winchester, you can find them on Facebook at facebook.com/winchesteropenmiccafe.