In the past, by early August this town was awash with excitement about the latest instalment of the Squamish Valley Music Festival. For six years it looked like a match made in heaven. Then, without warning, the whole arrangement headed to hell in a handbasket.
Last summer the festival pumped $14.8 million into the local economy. This year, instead of Drake, Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons, we ended up with fleeting memories, vacant venues and empty campgrounds.
To add insult to injury, the recent Pemberton Music Festival was attended by over 100,000 revellers, most of whom raved about the experience.
Live Nation, the SVMF promoter, sent a letter to District of Squamish officials in April stating the company was pulling the plug on the festival because it was no longer “financially viable.” Beyond that brief explanation, details about the cancellation were sparse and filling in the blanks has become a guessing game.
Some observers speculate the festival marketplace is overly competitive with numerous promoters bidding for a limited talent pool. Consequently, the SVMF ended up being hard-pressed to stay in the game. As well, it has been suggested that excessive logistical costs were incurred when daily festival capacity expanded to 35,000 attendees.
Another factor cited by various sources was the anemic loonie. Big name acts demand payment in U.S. currency, so the writing was on the wall for the SVMF once the Canadian dollar took a nose dive relative to its American counterpart.
But the clincher may have been a business deal that took place two weeks before the SVMF was cancelled. At that time, Live Nation acquired the Alberta-based Union Events festival and concert promotion company.
That arrangement included two signature events, Sonic Boom in Edmonton and X-Fest in Calgary. According to a Vancouver Sun report, the transaction was significant because it meant Live Nation’s festival foothold in Western Canada was secure and subsequently the Squamish connection became expendable.
When Live Nation departed they gave the media and loyal concert-goers no real explanation, beyond saying this was an “extremely difficult decision” and offering a short apology.
There is a feeling in some circles that this community got the bum’s rush from a company that leveraged our assets for six years and extracted ample financial reward in the process. As much as Live Nation claims the SVMF was a financial liability, last year’s event set attendance records.
The bottom line is the SVMF had all the earmarks of a big league operation and the District of Squamish bent over backwards to accommodate the enterprise. In the end, Live Nation departed with undue haste like a two-bit circus rolling out of town in the wee hours of the morning.
