Council votes against 2nd summer music festival for Cavendish

Councillors for the Resort Municipality of Stanley Bridge, Hope River, Bayview, Cavendish and North Rustico have voted to deny an application for a second summer music festival in Cavendish.

Council voted 3-2 against the application Monday night.

Whitecap Entertainment wanted to launch the Sommo Festival, a two-day rock concert and culinary festival on July 14-15 — the weekend following the 2023 Cavendish Beach Music Festival (CBMF).

"Councillors would tell you it was an extremely difficult decision to make," said Linda Lowther, deputy mayor for the municipality.

The municipality received two petitions — one for and one against the concert. There were about 600 signatures in favour of the concert, and about 300 against, Lowther said.

"One of the things you need to consider is where those signatures were coming from. I think council weighed heavily on the opinions of their constituents who voted them in just a few months ago."

At the public meeting about the concert on Feb. 6, some business owners questioned whether or not another concert would be beneficial, Lowther said, with some drawing comparisons to the Cavendish Beach Music Festival.

"Other business who don't normally get any business from CBMF visitors to the area because they don't eat in the restaurants, and they don't golf and they don't go to the attractions, they basically go to CBMF, the concern [is] that this would be the same thing," said Lowther.

"They would again lose some of their income over the course of those two days," Lowther said.

'A family market'

Council also received written letters, and Lowther said many of them focused on the dates for the proposed festival, July 14-15.

"I think most people thought it was a great event. It's just, it's in the peak season when we have a family market," said Lowther.

"Most of the people that come here stay for a week, the families, they've been coming for years. It's the family destination, right? So had it been another date I said I don't even think people would have blinked."

Ben Murphy, CEO of Whitecap Entertainment was at the meeting and asked for clarity on the vote.

Although there was confusion in the room at the time of the vote, Lowther clarified multiple times and spoke with councillors afterwards to make sure they understood what they were voting on, she said.

"People were sure what they were voting for, so I don't think there is going to be an issue," Lowther said.

Murphy declined to comment on the situation.

Councillors George Clark Dunning and Chris Robinson voted in favour of holding the music festival. Councillors Ryan Simpson, Kay Hryckiw and Lee Brammer voted to deny the application.

The mayor of the municipality, Matthew Jelley, was not at the council meeting, and Lowther did not vote.