Paul Runnals, executive director of the Squamish Valley Music Festival, said it’s become easier to plan and prepare for the multi-day event after doing it for the past six years.
“After six years in, we have a pretty good system for getting things set up,” he said. “And this year we’ve been working on our nice ‘to-do’ list, instead of it being about planning for and supporting the amount of growth we had like last year.”
Although Runnals said there would be no significant changes for this year’s SVMF, Squamish residents will be getting free entrance on Thursday evening to “sample” the festival experience, he said.
“In past years, locals could pay $25 at the door on Thursday and get to see what the festival was all about on Thursday night,” he said. “But this year we are offering Squamish residents a free night at the festival. All they have to do is show up with their ID proving they are Squamish residents. It’s our way of treating the residents and giving them a sampler of the festival experience.”
Other than the free festival night for local residents, Runnals said the event would follow pretty much in last year’s footsteps.
“We’re expecting around 30,000 people a day,” he said. “Last year we had 35,000 per day. It is also weather-dependent, but we expect 105,000 to 110,000 to walk through the gates during the weekend.”
Runnals said his team is watching the weather, not just to gauge the number of attendees, but also because of especially dry conditions and potential wildfire risks.
“Certainly we are monitoring the weather and have been for several months,” he said. “We are constantly in contact with the municipality and with fire officials. With the dry conditions we will have extra resources on site as well as more signage, so awareness is a big part of it. We also pay every year to have additional firefighter services to be on standby specifically to respond to any eventuality at the festival. It’s something we’ve always done, so really there is no change this year.”
He also said he wasn’t concerned that smoky skies could return to Squamish during the festival.
“It’s a bit of a concern,” he said. “But it was a unique set of circumstances that resulted in those smoky skies. It was uncomfortable and a bit weird, but there was really no danger. But we are certainly paying attention to and monitoring the potential of it returning.”
He said, like last year, residents should expect few traffic problems during the event despite the number of people that will be in town.
“Our traffic plan ran so flawlessly last year,” he said. “We doubled attendance and yet we ran without an incident. It should be the same this year, with no significant impact to local residents. We have some 900 volunteers right now, so we are actually a bit overstaffed. But many of these volunteers have been with us for a number of years and know how things work.
“We also have 600 security guards ensuring safety at the festival, and the security companies we work with have grown with us as we have grown. We really didn’t need to reinvent things this year. We have a plan that works, and now we are working on the little tweaks.”
Runnals said keeping things the same at the festival makes it easier for attendees to feel familiar with and enjoy the event.
“When it’s the same, loyal fans know where to go and what to do,” he said. “Instead of trying to figure out what they need to do, they can just enjoy the festival and have a great experience because they’ve done it before.”
The Squamish Valley Music Festival, with headliners Mumford and Sons, Drake and Sam Smith, runs August 6 to 9. For more info, go to squamishfestival.com.
