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Colter deems Evolve a success
Connor MacEachern connormac@thecasket.ca
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Edmonton-based electro-pop band Gobble Gobble performed inside the Palace Yurt stage Saturday afternoon during the 11th annual Evolve music festival. (Connor MacEachern photo)
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The 11th annual Evolve Festival was a success, with few problems on the concert grounds, according to the event organizer.
“I don’t have the final numbers, but I know there were over 3,000 people here,” event organizer Jonas Colter said.
“The numbers are definitely up.”
Some of that success can be shared with CBC Radio 3, whose fans named Evolve Canada’s best music festival. CBC personalities Grant Lawrence and Chris Kelly attended the festival and recorded audio for broadcast.
“It was fun having those guys here,” Colter said.
The annual festival brings music from around the world to Black Avon each summer. This year’s event included the usual dance and techno acts along with folk performers.
Colter said one of his only complaints was receiving a $4,500 fine for putting up posters in Halifax. He said a Halifax bylaw enforcer and Antigonish RCMP Staff Sgt. Tony Perry delivered the fine at the concert grounds Friday afternoon.
“We put [posters] up for six weeks, where other production companies in Halifax put up posters year round,” Colter said.
“It’s weird that Evolve would get singled out,” he added. “We’re going to fight this, this is ridiculous.”
Perry declined to comment on the issue.
Evolve’s assistant site manager Robert Bowkett said some people had too much to drink, but it was an otherwise successful weekend.
“It’s been pretty peaceful,” he said Sunday afternoon.”
Police officers warned festival-goers to limit drinking to the specified areas, he added.
Michael Pullen was the head of security for the festival. Shadow Security meshes well with the concert, he said.
“We’re here to provide a safe environment for people to go through their own exploration here,” he said.
“It’s Woodstock, but a little less political.”
The local RCMP detachment released a statement Monday saying they charged one man with possession for the purpose of trafficking and another for drug possession. Three people were charged with intoxication in a public place and one was arrested for a breach of the peace. The RCMP helped with at least two Emergency Health Services calls, it added.
“I think it’s fairly typical,” Cpl. Ron Bryce said. “We made a total of eight arrests for public intoxication, three of which received tickets for that.”
The press release said the festival did not pose any major policing issues.
MacDonald’s inconvenience
MacDonald’s Convenience owner Loyola MacDonald has been a vendor at Evolve for nine years, but was not allowed to set up shop this year.
“It just left a different taste in my mouth this year,” she said.
MacDonald said she sent in her application earlier this year and had spent $12,000 on products such as hamburgers, hot dogs and pop.
“We built our own spot down there because the owners know us very well,” she said. “We’d been there for years and had nothing bad to say about the festival itself.”
Colter said he didn’t receive a vendor application from MacDonald, so she could not sell products on the concert grounds.
“The night before the festival is not the time to show up and cry wolf, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“Vendors are supposed to apply online,” he added. “Every year she applied online. This year she didn’t apply, she didn’t call.”
MacDonald said she had to throw out $6,000 of perishable items, but was able to stock her shelves with $6,000 of non-perishables bought for the festival.
MacDonald added she’ll apply to be a vendor next year.
“We’ve got too much invested in it now, the equipment and the machinery,” she said.
“It was disappointing to my employees because they work very hard,” she added. “We would hope that Jonas Colter would call us and chat with us sometime.”
Future plans
Evolve made headlines over the past month when Colter announced he’d been looking at moving the concert site if the festival didn’t receive support from local municipalities.
Warden Herb Delorey said the county has made a decision not to fund concerts and festivals, while mayor Carl Chisholm has said he’s open to meeting with Colter if he can provide financial statements.
John MacDonald owns the Black Avon property that hosts the event. He said he’s concerned about the future of the concert in Antigonish County.
“If we don’t get support from the town and county, it’ll probably move.” Heather Peacock drove from London, Ont., for the festival. She said the music was the highlight of her trip.
“And the good vibes, I guess,” she added. “The love is here.”
Nukhalu Callaghan-Patrachar and Andrea MacLean, both of Antigonish, said they had a “fantastic” time at the concert.
MacLean said she’d hate to see Evolve move to another area.
“It’s weird because it’s always been here.”
Callaghan-Patrachar said he’d like to see events such as Evolve receive the same attention as sports in Antigonish.
“There’s a whole other sub-group here.”
Delorey and Chisholm had said they might visit Evolve during the weekend. Neither did, but both said they heard good things about the festival.
“The people who I talked to really enjoyed it,” Delorey said. “They said it was excellent.”
Chisholm said he’s still open to meeting with Colter.
“If he wants to come make a presentation in September or October, our door is open,” he said. “Show me a financial statement and we can see if they need our support.”
Colter said he’s interested in meeting with the council, especially after the Antigonish Regional Development Authority completes its economic impact assessment.
“That’s what’s going to make them come to the table more than anything,” he said.
“Even if it wasn’t a giant money-maker, they should still embrace it,” he said.
Colter said he’s heard from councils in Yarmouth, Truro and across New Brunswick who would like to discuss hosting Evolve.
“But it’s not my mandate to move.”
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wrote:
Minds are like parachutes they only work when open! Old school bulling threating to raise taxes for events like evolve? Taxpayers are paying " BARE POLE" bylaws today? "The MEAN SPIRIT HUM" hokey pokey flinging with Hallifax over event numbers ?
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PJM wrote:
There should be a little give from all parties to come to some type of agreement . Evolve is proving to be a winner and it is time everyone look and see what it really could be. As far as illegal stuff going on? Drive thru James River on Race Weekend
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