You win some, you lose some, when it comes to outdoor music festivals in Central Alberta.
Although a splashy new music event was recently announced for our area — the Summer Sensation Beach Music Festival that will bring Hedley, Our Lady Peace, Dragonette and other groups to Sylvan Lake on July 10 and 11 — two other festivals are now not happening in the region.
The Tail Creek Mud and Music Festival and the Central Music Festival are not going ahead as expected this summer in Central Alberta.
Instead, Tail Creek’s organizers are moving what was supposed to be an outdoor event in Alix, indoors to Edmonton after running out of time for site improvements.
The festival that will feature Billy Talent, Limp Bizkit, Bad Religion and other rock and punk groups will now take place at Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre from June 25 to 27.
It should just be a one-year detour, as organizers expect to complete construction at the Alix site and bring the festival back to Central Alberta’s outdoors in 2016.
Existing Tail Creek passes will be honoured at the Shaw Conference Centre. But pass-holders who want refunds should visit tailcreek.ca/refund/ before 6 p.m. on June 8.
The Central Music Festival was anticipated to return to private property north of Red Deer this summer. But organizer Mike Bradford said it won’t go ahead in 2015, as the festival has been paying off debts and still needs to fundraise before launching another three-day multi-genre music event.
He hopes to have a 2016 festival featuring some big headliners as well as local and Alberta acts. But whether this will fly will depend on how much money can be raised by November or December.
Another annual festival — Sylvan Lake’s Jazz at the Lake — will also not go ahead this summer, as previously announced. Instead, a few special events are planned, including a joint concert between some local jazz players and the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra on Saturday Aug. 15, at Centennial Park in Sylvan Lake, with the Brubeck Brothers, Cheryl Fisher and Eric Allison joining the orchestra. The next day, on Sunday, Aug. 16, the RDSO will be performing an outdoor concert at Bower Ponds in Red Deer.
However, area music lovers can still groove to tunes at the new Summer Sensations Beach Music Festival in Centennial Park in Sylvan Lake — as well as the Alberta’s Own Independent Music Festival from Aug. 14 to 16 at the Tail Creek Raceways near Alix. This 14th-annual event offers camping, as well as performances from Northern Pikes, The Odds, The Grapes of Wrath and other bands. Organizers expect construction at the Alix site to be done by August.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com
