Attendance the first yearmore thanmet the festival’s goals, so in 2010, organizers began to build permanent struc- tures on the site to improve the experience. The festival was extended to five days, in order to better accommo- date world-class acts including Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift. When Taylor Swift took the stage it was estimated that over 25,000 people were in atten- dance. Since then, stars visiting Prince Edward Island for the Cavendish Beach Music Festival have included Tanya Tucker, The Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley, Dwight Yoakum, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts and Little Big Town – the list reads like a hit country radio station playlist.
“Sometimes people can’t imagine it till they see it, you know?”
Firmly convinced that Prince Edward Island needed a des- tination music event to align with its already sizable tourism capital, Squires set out to find a site suitable for a festival. In 2008, he found the right spot: ironically it was a potato field; it was the right size and capacity for such an event. Strategically, he chose a location near Avonlea Village, anticipating in advance that attendees would look for other activities in the area and Cavendish Beach had it all. For the first, three-day show in 2009, Squires lined up country music heavy-hitters Tim McGraw and Reba McIntyre. “Everyone we talked to in the entertainment industry said, ‘if this is going to work, you need Reba,’ Jeff Squires told a crowd in May at the Canadian Marketing Association’s Atlantic conference. Why Reba? “Not only is she an A-list country star, she’s just got the best reputation as a real pro- fessional. If she’s involved in a thing, people know it’s legit.” This was the first time that the Cavendish Beach Music Festival used a strategic partnership to achieve its goals, a practice many events aspire to use and be as successful as the CBMF does for their event.
LOTTO MAX is proud to sponsor the Cavendish Beach Music Festival
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DECEMBER 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS JULY
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