SpotlightDecember2016

By Charlene Boyce L ooking at what Prince Edward Island has to offer, who would ever think you’d find one of the “The World’s Greatest Country Music Festival” on a tiny jewel of an island best known for beaches, potatoes, golf, ice cream and a certain red-haired orphan? The story of the Lotto MAX presents Cavendish Beach Music Festival is a story of partnerships and of the particular flavour of determina- tion one only finds in small tight-knit communities. Hearken back to the early 2000s. Canada’s Maritime Prov- inces had begun attracting the kind of large outdoor music shows and festivals that can make a small town or place a major tourist destination. Canso, Nova Scotia had The Stan Rogers Folk Festival, informally known as Stanfest, a folk festival that has been drawing music fans internation- ally for 20 years. Halifax’s Citadel Hill and the Commons hosted music festivals and shows featuring acts like the Black Eyed Peas, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and in 2008, Keith Urban. Parlee Beach and the Magnetic Hill concert site in New Brunswick had hosted large, popular music events for years, featuring acts as varied as AC/ DC and Alan Jackson. Strangely left out of the outdoor music party was arguably Canada’s most tourist-centric province, Prince Edward Island. President of the Lotto MAX presents Cavendish Beach Music Festival, Jeff Squires recalls seeing what was taking place in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick where thousands of people came to watch and listen to their favorite artist saying, “We were setting up shows on the waterfront and in other places, but none were right. It became clear that what Prince Edward Island needed was a venue.” It was the success of these larger events that helped support the business case for a concert venue on Prince Edward Island. In what sounded like a line from the movie, Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will come.” was Squires’ vision for Prince Edward Island outdoor music venue however, not everyone buys into that logic. Squires admits that the first challenge to surmount was education, so that is what he did. Prince Edward Island’s natural attractions are something Jeff Squires is passionate about. He instinctively links tourismand the natural outdoor beauty of the Island to all his business ventures and he has been associated with a few: after starting his career as a teacher, principal and hockey coach, he founded a marketing and communications business, plus he’s President and CEO of the PEI Brewing Company. He acknowledges wryly that he must be part of the “this gen- eration that’s going to have six or eight careers.” “If you build it, they will come.” “Sometimes people can’t imagine it till they see it, you know?”

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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • DECEMBER 2016

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