(Shediac N.B) – Nestled in the Maritime Province of New Brunswick, is a quaint little beach town called Shediac. Parlee Beach is a popular summer destination for locals and tourist looking for surf, sand, fresh seafood and a great time.
The Parlee Beach Music Festival is a 3 day music festival that helps raise funds for local amateur sporting organizations and service clubs. This festival had a nice variety of acts, ranging from Jazz, Blues, Country, Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Classic New Wave and Hard Rock. A little something for everyone. First night of the event featured Moon Minglewood, Mike Biggar Band and Kickin’ Krotch. Day two brought the likes of Matt Landry Band, Gloryhound, Helix, One Bad Son and The Trews. Wrapping up the final day where Matt Landry Band (for a second appearance), Five Man Electrical Band, Honeymoon Suite and Platinum Blonde.
This festival had it’s fair share of hiccups, nearly cancelled 2 days before the actual event. The hosting venue, Shediac Centre for Speed had planned to have the concert in a large open area nestled in the center of the race track. Political push back nearly thwarted the event entirely. Forced to move the location of the event at the very last minute, representative Tim Wile sited “The event location was not what we planned. We received notice on Tuesday night (the week of the festival) that the Province was not going to make a decision on issuing a permit under the Municipalities Act, as required by the Act. The South East Regional Development Commission had reportedly interfered with the issuance of the permit “through the back door”, despite the quality of the application, and had convinced the Minister to ignore our application. Local Government (responsible for issuing the permit where no concert by-law exists) had previously stated to us that they would not allow the Commission to interfere without a by-law, to submit our plan and they would issue the permit. However, in the end, the Director responsible was silenced and politics trumped the law, again. So, the only other choice we had was to cancel the event. Rather than that, we moved the event to our Bar area (adjacent to the intended site) and scurried to put the event together there. In the fury, well, stuff fell through the cracks. When the Commission heard they had not completely shut the concert down (we already had a liquor and entertainment license in our Bar area) they campaigned to Liquor Licensing to convince them we had no right to operate on the site, at all! That was unsuccessful.” So the show went on, much to the complaints of ticket holders regarding placement and lack of organization.
Referred to as the “bowling alley” by concert goers, the stage was located on the side of the race track, in a long and narrow alley, divided in two; left side was the VIP area, while the right side was the “beer garden” area. The concessions stands where located at the back of the “alley”. People complained about the demographics of the stage, the distance for the child friendly areas in relations to the stage, the camping area, paid parking and about the shuttle service to and from the event. The stage placement did throw me off a bit, but hearing the story behind it, felt there was no other choice for the show to go on. I personally didn’t experience any of the issues that were expressed regarding the shuttle, as a matter of fact found the driver very personable, and although a few minutes late, I felt it was reasonable to expect slight delays due to traffic congestion and summertime construction. The paid parking didn’t faze me in the least since everywhere in Toronto is paid parking. But to locals it was a big deal.
Tim Wile and his team did the best they could with a less than desirable situation. In the end, it’s all about the music and raising money for the community, it could easily have been a scenario of a cancelled festival. Tim Wile persevered to ensure this festival took place. The crowd in attendance certainly had smiles on their faces and appeared to be enjoying the benefits of the great music presented that weekend. Was this a perfectly organized event? No. Was it terrible? Absolutely not. I hope they can brush off the negative publicity they received this year, and come back next year with a vengeance.
Connect with: Moon Minglewood, Mike Biggar Band, Kickin’ Krotch, Matt Landry Band, Gloryhound, Helix, One Bad Son, The Trews, Five Man Electrical Band, Honeymoon Suite and Platinum Blonde
Do NOT copy without consent. ©Sue Sadzak
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