Organizers seek approval for new music festival in Cavendish
The Cavendish Beach Music Festival sees about 25,000 attendees each year - it’s a signature event on the island. Now the group behind it is hoping to add another.
Organizers pitched their food, drink, and rock-leaning music festival to about 100 locals in Cavendish, P.E.I., Monday evening.
While most of those in attendance agreed the event was a good idea, many questioned the planned dates, the weekend after the popular country music festival.
“We’re just not pro this concert during our peak season months,” said Adam Lowther, general manager of Fairways Cottages. “From July 1 to Sept. 4 we’ve had a committed, loyal, high-yielding demographic in families that has been steadily growing for 20 years now.”
Lowther said mixing 20-something festival goers with 30-something parents with kids doesn’t work well for accommodations, because the two groups are looking for very different experiences.
Whitecap Entertainment, which owns the festival, said the event is being designed to tap into an older demographic – the 30 plus crowd.
“Branding, the pricing, everything to do with this festival is aimed at an older clientele. We’re hopeful we can push that age up,” said Ben Murphy, Whitecap Entertainment CEO. “Will there be people under 25 there? Absolutely, but that won’t be the main target market.”
Murphy also said they are open to changing the date on subsequent years, but this year’s timing is to accommodate the acts they’ve booked, which have yet to be announced.
“As much as I would love to think, these world-class artist and chefs that we’re trying to get here, we get to pick the exact date they want to come,” said Murphy. “We have to be a little flexible.”
Many in the community are calling for the festival to be moved to the shoulder season, after kids have returned to school.
“We need to look at ways to diversify a product in all seasons,” said Lowther. “I think this event aligns really well with our off season.”
Lowther said that way tourism operators can take advantage of the festival, without pushing out the long-term customers the region has spent years cultivating.
Municipal council is set to decide if the festival will go ahead by the end of the month.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.