A new music fest intended to resemble Bonnaroo Music Festival, is coming to Oro-Medonte, several news outlets are reporting – the line-up of performers will come out in the next few weeks, organizers have promised.
With four stages, an on-site farmers market, and various art installations, these are just a few of the things that will come to the event, which is still unnamed but will run from July 24-26. It will, however, be held at Burl’s Creek and is being produced by Republic Live (who are also responsible for the annual Boots and Hearts country music festival) as well as the co-founders of the Bonnaroo Music Festival.
“We’re definitely going to see some great artists from multiple genres,” said Republic Live’s Director of Public Relations Laura Kennedy (CTV News). “We started looking around and wondering why we don’t have something like Bonnaroo right here in Canada.”
While promoters are promising to bring in some big-name acts, local musical talent, like Barrie band The Alpaca’s, is also hoping for a chance to perform on one of the stages. “It’s potentially a good springboard for a local band to be put in front of so many potential new fans and promoters,” said band member Nick Harper.
“Seeing that come full circle to the point where Ashley (Capps, CEO of AC Entertainment, which co-founded Bonnaroo) and his team are now working with us to bring a truly international destination festival of that nature to Canada has been amazing,” said Republic Live executive director Shannon McNevan to the Barrie Advance. “We can see with the growth of Boots and Hearts that Canada, and in particular Ontario, has the appetite to sustain camping and music festivals and we believe that the location, being so close to the GTA, is the perfect site.”
Photo: Burl’s Creek
