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 “If you build it, they will come.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • JULY 2016
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