Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Windsor Centennial Music Festival (W.C.M.F.) is pre-dated by the Windsor Music Festival, first held in 1947 and co-sponsored by the Kiwanis Club and the Essex Branch of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association (O.R.M.T.A.). The Secretary of this first festival was Miss Greeta French, who would remain active in both O.R.M.T.A. and Windsor's music festivals for over forty years. The annual Festival ran until 1964, when it was discontinued due to declining interest. In 1966, the Essex Branch of O.R.M.T.A., then headed by Ms. French, decided to host the Windsor Centennial Piano Competition in 1967 to celebrate Canada's centennial. By the second competition in 1968, the festival attracted over five hundred entries from piano students throughout Essex, Kent and Lambton counties. In 1969, the festival decided additional categories should be added, which led to a string category added to the competition and a change in the festival's name to the Windsor Centennial Music Competition in 1971. Between 1973 and 1976 other additions included organ, accordion and vocal categories. The growth in non-competitive classes led to another name change, the Windsor Centennial Music Festival. During the late-1970s and early-1980s, the Festival continued to grow under the leadership of Allen and Muriel Loney. Continuing financial and administrative problems, particularly in the vacuum left by Allen Loney's death in 1986, undermined many of the Festival's achievements. There were a number of attempts to renew the prior association between Kiwanis Club and O.R.M.T.A., which were not successful until 1989. Kiwanis assumed the festival's assets and created the Kiwanis Music Festival of Windsor-Essex County.