With a year of experience under its belt, the second annual Blessed Coast music, yoga and arts festival is set to return to Brackendale’s Cheekye Ranch this weekend with a bigger, better cultural experience for attendees.
“We had a full year to plan, and we’ve got a bigger team, bigger budget, and more time to put into it,” said lead festival organizer Kala Siddha.
The event, which runs from July 22 to 24, combines riverside camping with acoustic singer-songwriters, electronic music, workshops, yoga classes and children’s activities, all under the umbrella of this year’s theme, “Love for the Earth – Sustainability and Stewardship.”
“We love the land out here so much that we’ve been trying to make our festival 100 per cent renewable powered,” said Siddha. “We’re happy to be able to showcase what’s possible in having really sustainable events in the valley and around the world.”
While last year’s entire event took place within one area, this year’s festival setup has expanded to include a whole new dance floor and main stage, along with a separate camping area. Organizers have secured an open-air tent that will be fully dedicated to yoga practice and have developed three different sacred space lodges that will be hosted by indigenous elders and medicine carriers. “This is something a few festivals around the world do, but it’s something that we’re really, really passionate about,” said Siddha.
The addition of an acoustic daytime stage in the camping area and the “epic new main stage” will be more than suitable to accommodate the many artists – including the popular singer-songwriter Trevor Hall – set to perform throughout the three days. “I think people will be blown away by the music this year and by the whole production level at the main stage,” said Siddha. “It’s going to once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
This increased production value and impressive lineup will undoubtedly help Blessed Coast fill the Squamish-Valley-Music-Festival-sized gap left in the region, following organizers’ announcement in March that this year’s event would be cancelled.
“When we heard that, we were happy to know we’d be able to set an example for what we want our festival to be like, and it gave us more inspiration to really put a lot of love into how we organized the event,” said Siddha.
While it might fill a gap, don’t expect Blessed Coast to fit the typical alcohol-fueled, major music festival mould.
“We’re all about each of the guests having a really awesome experience. We’re not going to go much over 700 people this year - we’re aiming for 500-700 people - so it’s a super intimate gathering where everybody gets to really enjoy everything,” explained Siddha. “Our focus is on giving people so many new ways to celebrate, so many new ways to feel good, and to not serve alcohol and encourage self-destructive forms of celebration.”
“Let’s really see if we can feel better than we’ve ever felt in our lives after spending three days together,” he added.
Full weekend passes can be purchased, as well passes for each day. For more information about the festival, go to blessedcoast.ca.
