The Black Swan Coffee House was founded by Harry Finlay in 1961. It was first located on Ontario Street in Stratford, Ontario, then moved to Downie and Wellington and finally settled at 31 Market Place by 1966. In the first years, Cedric Smith appeared to audiences of high school people on their class trip to the Stratford theater taking in a bit of alternative culture before the play began. In later years the performances occurred after the evening performance at the Stratford Theater and Cedric was joined by a number of musicians who became known as the Perth County conspiracy. Oftentimes the music would go on till 3 or 4 in the morning.
From 1969 the resident band, PCCdne, went out on tours across Canada and various other folk singers such as Brent Titcomb would play for a week or two at the Swan. In 1975 the Black Swan closed, but beginning in 1990 an annual Black Swan Revival began taking place at Knox Presbyterian Church in Stratford. These revivals featured many of the original performers from the earlier years as well as some of their children who had become musicians themselves. The revivals have been in support of an organization helping homeless youth in Perth County.
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