Logo and Name

About the Mariposa Logo

The Mariposa logo isn’t just any logo. It was designed, then later resdesigned, by two of Canada’s best known folk icons.

The original design was done by Ian Tyson who headlined the first Mariposa Folk Festival in 1961 as a duo with Sylvia Fricker, who later became his wife.

Later, a young fellow by the name of Murray McLachlan started hanging around the festival and updated the logo to the current version that remains in use today.

Just like the festival, Mariposa’s logo is by, of and for the musicians.

What’s in a Name?

Mariposa means ‘butterfly’ in Spanish, but the ‘Grand Dame’ of folk festivals wasn’t named for a lepidopterae.

The name comes from the fictitious town of Mariposa, in the thinly disguised spoof of the real town of Orillia in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, the charming  novella by Canada’s most famous humorist, Stephen Leacock.

When the organizers of the first Mariposa Folk Festival were looking for a name, Mariposa was the logical choice.

Leacock’s beautiful lakeside home is a popular museum just a short walk along the Gordon Lightfoot Trail from Tudhope Park, the site of Mariposa Folk Festival.