By David DeRocco

A craft beer festival featuring seven local breweries, an artisan village and a health and wellness event in the park are just a few of the additions promising to help make the 3^rd annual  LIVESTOCK NIAGARA event the biggest one yet.

The big draw continues to be the music, however, and this year more than 40 local  bands will be performing over the course of this one-day free music and arts festival and craft beer market. The event takes place Saturday July 22^nd across Niagara Fall`s Queen Street district, and is rapidly becoming Niagara`s biggest and best free indie music festival. That`s just part of the ongoing mandate of the festival according to organizer Rafik Guirguis.

``The mandate of this festival is to provide a platform for local musicians, businesses, community leaders and artists to showcase their talents to a large and diverse audience,`` said Guirguis, who`ll be one of the performers at Livestock Niagara for the first time since he began organizing the festival in 2015. ``I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that there is a wealth of talent in this city and they`re just  not getting the attention they deserve. There are a lot of people doing a lot of great work to bring attention to all the performers. This is just another way to do that.``

To help keep the festival in growth mode for year three Guirguis and his team took the elements that worked in years one and two and incorporated them into 2017 planning. As a result the vendors will be a bigger part of the event this year, a move designed to raise the profile of the artists showcasing their wares at Livestock.

``We decided to close down Valleyway this year and make the entrance way an artisan village,`` explained Guirguis. ``This year anyone walking in will be exposed to the vendors as they come in.``

Besides the enormous support Guirguis receives annually from Taps Brewhouse and Grill on Queen, the festival got a major boast in the form of a grant from the Niagara Falls Arts and Culture Committee. As a result programming for the 2017 Livestock Niagara event has an even broader appeal this year, with 10 visual artists, 10 artisan vendors and three health and wellness instructors all scheduled as part of the day`s family-friendly activity.

Livestock Niagara kicks of July 22^nd at 11:00am and runs until 2:00am. For more information and full band schedule visit www.livestockniagara.com.