Borealis Music Festival ready to hit Prince Albert

Lancaster said Penner has been touring around Canada doing a lot of pub shows as his demographic fan base have all grown up and he’s been selling out those shows over the last couple of year.

“We thought why not? It’s great for the kids, great for the family and great for our audience.”

He said Penner’s show will be very family friendly and very positive.

“We work with a few different booking agencies across Canada, [Penner’s] agent is a great guy that’s really easy to work with, Fred was available and his requirements fit exactly what we had so we said yeah, let’s do it.”

Lancaster said the festival will also feature a lot of local talent, many of whom will be performing for free throughout the weekend.

“It’s a free stage for the community to come check out. It runs from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday [at the amphitheatre]. It’s free for the community, they have access to the food market and the children’s activities and the fun stuff that goes on throughout the day.”

Most of the local acts will also be doing after hours acts following the wrap up of the festival each night.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased at a number of places including the Prince Albert Tourism Office, the Borealis Music Festival website and Facebook page, as well as the SaskTel Jazz Festival Box Office in Saskatoon.

Lancaster said both weekend and day passes are on sale right now and there’s even a shuttle service for those out at the lake.

“We have a shuttle from Waskesiu that’s going to bring people in at around 4 p.m. Once the events wrap up at 11 p.m. people can get back on the shuttle and get back out to the lake before everything kind of wraps up out there.”

He said for those staying in the city there are after hour events at a number of locations around the city, which will be posted on the Borealis Music Festival’s website.

Right now, they are busy confirming more artists and working out the schedule for the event.

He said a big thank you goes out to their sponsors TD Canada Trust, SaskTel, the City of Prince Albert, the Northern Lights Casino and the Northern Lights Community Development Corporation in assisting them with getting the festival off the ground.

“Without their help we wouldn’t be able to do this, so thank you to those sponsors. Any other sponsors that are interested in getting involved there’s still room if they want to get involved.”

Kinsmen Park layout for festival

Lancaster said they will be utilizing all of Kinsmen Park for the event and separating the park into four quadrants.

“[There’s a] fenced off area in the southeast quadrants of the park. The capacity of the venue is just under 6,000 people, so there’s 5,000 tickets available daily for people to come in, that’s the main stage so that’s a ticketed event.”

There will be a food vendor market and cultural community market in the southeast quadrant of the park that will be open to the public throughout the day.

He said people will be able to get clothes, organic good and will be able to check out a number of food trucks.

“We are utilizing the amphitheatre stage for our workshop stage for the free community stuff. Part of the project is to be able to do some bandstand upgrades as well to that amphitheater, so post event the festival will be investing money back into the park to improve pathways, flower beds, electrical upgrades and amphitheatre upgrades.”

He said they want to improve the park for future years and have a park the city can be proud of.

“We’ve been kindly sponsored by the city to allow us the use of the facility so we’re totally thankful for that, we’re very grateful for that.”

Latest acts to be announced

The Borealis Music Festival already has a great list of artists who will be performing at the event.

They include Until Red, The Dead South, Mario Lepage, I Draw Slow and Andino Suns.

Lancaster said they have a number of other great artists that have just signed on.

The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer are a group from Vancouver.

“They are a phenomenal band … They are doing a huge festival circuit. They did one last summer and blew peoples mind all across the country, so they’re coming to P.A.”

Harlan Pepper out of Hamilton will also be performing. “They are all over CBC, they are just a great band all around.”

Close Talker from Saskatoon will also be there.

Lancaster said they will be updating their website as they confirm more artists.

Volunteering and Vendors

Lancaster said they are still on the lookout for more volunteers to help with the festival.

“There are some sweet perks to joining our volunteer team. You get backstage passes, you get a weekend pass to check out the event. It’s a small commitment of time over the weekend, but you get the whole weekend pass, backstage and a volunteer t-shirt that’s one of a kind.”

Anyone interested in volunteering can call the Prince Albert Tourism office at 306-953-4385 or go to the Borealis Music Festival website for an application.

He said there is also room for more mobile vendors and those applications can also be found on their website.

“We will be out at the Downtown Street Fair [on June 20] doing some volunteer applications. So if people are down there for Street Fair they can come and check us out and sign up as a volunteer or vendor.”

Applications are open until June 26.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

by Sarah Wallace

Borealis Music Festival ready to hit Prince Albert

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