The 2015 edition of the Squamish Valley Music Festival begins tonight (Thursday), and the festival’s executive producer Paul Runnals hopes to attract 30,000 people each day following last year’s memorable weekend.
The three-headed monster of Eminem, Bruno Mars and Arcade Fire in 2014 drew more than 100,000 people over the main three days of the event, and Runnals told The Squamish Chief things are running smoothly for 2015.
“There’s a ton of activity on site and things are ahead of schedule,” he said from the festival grounds on Friday.
Runnals said ticket sales are a little slower than last year but have been consistent and are picking up as the festival approaches.
“We’re expecting to land about 30,000 a day,” he said. “Maybe slightly under on Friday, maybe slightly over on Saturday, and Sunday is a little hard to read right now.”
He pointed out that the pace of sale per day is higher than last year, but total sales and pre-sales were down slightly. Runnals said big pre-sale numbers buoyed 2014 after the announcement of Eminem.
“We’re slowly closing the gap from last year, but I don’t think we’re going to see 35,000 like we did on Sunday last year,” he said. “But we should be around the 30,000 mark each day.”
Runnals said the 2015 lineup is the most talent-laden and diverse that has ever come to Squamish.
“There’s a lot of great stuff and I think it’s the deepest lineup we’ve fielded yet,” he said. “If you read even well down the poster, you still see significant names on there.”
He said Alabama Shakes and the entire Sunday lineup in general should be one to remember.
“I think Alabama Shakes are going to tear the doors off the place,” he said. “And I had the opportunity to see the Mumford and Sons show in Niagara a few weeks ago and it was phenomenal. Our Sunday programming is ridiculous and chock full of amazing stuff. For anyone with just a one-day experience in them, I would strongly encourage Sunday just by the depth of what’s going on.”
He added that there has been a lot of buzz about ASAP Rocky and Drake on Saturday and said Sam Smith has looked strong in his recent tour performances.
The festival grounds will be mostly similar to the 2014 set-up, but Runnals said the VIP experience has been upgraded and last year’s Meadow Stage has been moved to the Laroy Watt field area and been re-named the Garibaldi Stage.
“It’s a more high traffic area now and that should help allow that stage to draw more attention,” he said.
Runnals said art displays are a bigger part in the 2015 festival grounds and there are now a number of art installations and a huge art area on the grounds.
He also addressed the festival’s garbage plans, in light of the pictures that were posted on social media showing the aftermath of the Pemberton Music Festival last month. He said the plan isn’t changing much from last year and that last year’s cleanup ran well.
“I feel confident and we’ve had a ton of back and forth with the District of Squamish, Bear Aware and other local environmental groups, and I think we have a good plan,” he said. “There’s inevitably some amount of garbage and there is always someone who wants to go take that picture, but people should give it half a chance. It’s like any other party – just give the crews a chance to get in there and clean it up.”
To keep festival goers safe there will be 500 security guards and plain-clothed security in the crowd, Runnals said, adding 185 medical staff also work the festival.
Runnals said he appreciates the local volunteers and invited all Squamish residents to come check out the festival grounds on Thursday (Aug. 6) for free.
“We’re hoping for good weather all weekend long and want to encourage all the locals to come down on Thursday,” he said. “We’d love to have them come down and show them around and convince them to spend the weekend with us. There’s going to be a ton of great music and we’re really excited.”
Another chance for locals to take in the festival is the annual On the Street event in Downtown Squamish on Saturday (Aug. 8) and Sunday (Aug. 9). The event runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on both days and features pancake breakfast and music performances at Pavilion Park.
For more details on the event, visit www.squamishfestival.com.
