The Lupercalia Multi-Arts Festival strives to offer a balance of ticketed and free events on both Friday evening and Saturday throughout the day.

This year, the free Six at Six: Remarkable Women Cemetery Tour kicks off Friday night’s programming and celebrates Lupercalia's sixth anniversary.

Local historian Aly Boltman will shine a light on the lives of six spectacular women integral to Owen Sound's cultural history, in keeping with this year’s “women and children first” theme. Participants are invited to burn some candle wax while strolling through Greenwood Cemetery at dusk. The tour will start at the mausoleum with the story of Melba Morris Croft and focus on other cultural luminaries from Owen Sound including Kate Andrew, Annie Jaffray Eaton and others. The tour ends in Potter's Field where Boltman will acknowledge the hundreds of women and children who went into history in unmarked graves.

The group will meet outside the Mausoleum at 6 p.m. Participants are invited to bring a candle and/or a flashlight, dress warmly and wear appropriate footwear. The tour will last roughly one hour, leaving ample time for ticket-holders to get to the event at Heartwood Concert Hall starting at 8 p.m.

Friday night’s lineup at Heartwood is designed to start with a slow groove and end with unbridled dancefloor abandon. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

Toronto based Witch Prophet kicks off the evening with trippy beats and vocal gymnastics. Witch Prophet is the artistic alter-ego of Ethiopian/Eritrean singer/songwriter Ayo Leilani, who will be joined by her musical partner, beatmaster DJ SunSun. Together they create a soundscape of vocal layers, loops and harmonies over a bed of hip hop, jazz and soul inspired beats. If it sounds magical, it should. The music is inspired by Leilani’s interest in witchcraft and spells and tries to evoke that spirit, sonically speaking. Leilani is driven by an urge to collaborate and bring disparate elements together with Witch Prophet, and also as a member of hip-hop band Above Top Secret and arts collective 88 Days of Fortune.

The evening continues with a set from Ice Cream, a duo that is equal parts disco, post-punk and art rock. The multi-instrumentalists make music with whatever they have at hand, which usually results in a mix of sinewy bass lines, electro-keys, grungy guitar, boombox percussion and twinned vocals. Band members Carolyn Bezic and Amanda Crist have been creating music on thrift-store equipment for so long they have become gear nerds, proudly extolling the DIY-on-a-shoestring ethos. Darlings of the Toronto underground, Ice Cream have been playing together since high school, experimenting with countless musical ideas and finding a sound that seems greater than the sum of its parts.

To end the night, there's a set from Owen Sound’s own Osound. You may know her as Monique or simply Mo the DJ who has spun tracks for parties at Heartwood and entertains crowds regularly at Blue Mountain. Osound’s set will feature electronic beats and deep dancefloor tracks from women artists around the world, enhanced with vocal fills and harmonies. Prepare to shake it out!

Tickets for Friday night’s Heartwood show are $25. Mudtown Records is pleased to offer subsidized tickets to the unemployed and underwaged. For more information email info@mudtownrecords.com or phone 519-416-5696.