CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — The Cavendish Beach Music Festival grounds could possibly be used for a drive-in concert series this summer.
The festival's organizers had applied for a temporary transit permit with the Resort Municipality, which includes Cavendish. The topic was discussed during the municipality's monthly council meeting on May 25, held via video conference.
The annual festival typically takes place in July each summer, drawing in high-profile musical acts and crowds of up to 60,000. It has been cancelled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the application proposed an alternative for how a show might go on with a different lineup of musicians.
Brodie O'Keefe, general manager of Whitecap Entertainment, said during the meeting that one of their ideas is to hold a drive-in concert series on Saturdays throughout July and August.
"Where we put Island acts on our main stage," he said.
In a follow-up interview with The Guardian, he clarified that this plan is still very tentative.
The idea for the concert series would be to use the festival grounds in Cavendish from about 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. each Saturday with music fans parking their cars in front of the stage and enjoying the music from inside them.
"The sound would be transmitted into their cars via FM transmitter, similar to what you'd have at the Brackley Drive-In," he said during the meeting.
Food and beverage services would also be provided and delivered to cars. Alcohol would not be served to vehicles, but Whitecap is proposing that the grounds' accessible platform or VIP building could possibly be set up as bars with health measures in place, he said.
"And you can't take your beverage back to your vehicle."
"I know we can't say 'start building this tomorrow', but I don't see why we can't say it meets the bylaws and the use for the site."
AT A GLANCE
Here are some of the country music stars who were supposed to play at the 2020 Cavendish Beach Music Festival:
- Dan + Shay
- Miranda Lambert
- Brett Young
- Dallas Smith
- Chris Lane
- Time Hicks
- Mitchell Tenpenny
Coun. George Clark-Dunning, who sits on the municipality's planning board, said while the application itself is fine, there are still details which need to be worked out, such as what group capacity would be permitted under public health directives.
As well, the idea has yet to be approved by P.E.I.'s department of health and the Fire Marshall's Office, he said.
"There's information that's still not available to us," he said. "(But) planning board, in principle, did approve this."
Discussion was raised as to whether council should table the approval because of the missing details. In the end, the application was approved in principle subject to council's standard conditions, but it is still subject to whatever the department of health and Fire Marshall's Office decide.
"I know we can't say 'start building this tomorrow', but I don't see why we can't say it meets the bylaws and the use for the site," Mayor Matthew Jelley said.
Daniel Brown is a local journalism initiative reporter, a position funded by the federal government. he can be reached at [email protected].
