By ASHLEY KOWITZ
Canada’s Big Music Fest is coming to Kitchener.
The three-day event will take place in McLennan Park, well known as Mount Trashmore, this summer.
McLennan Park is located at 901 Ottawa St. S. The 39-hectare park was built on a former landfill site and has since become a prospering area that has a skate park, basketball courts, trails and a splash pad for the kids. The park has ample parking and capacity to host an event of this size.
The festival will run from Friday, July 11 to Sunday, July 13. Last year it took place in Belleville and featured such artists as Hedley, Burton Cumming and the Counting Crows among many others. Owen Sound, Wiarton and Bobcaygeon, Ont. have also been home to the festival in the past featuring artists such as ZZ Top, The Sheepdogs and Three Days Grace.
“I can’t tell you the names. I can only tell you that they are very big stars, international stars,” Mark Higgins, the president and founder of Big Music Fest, said at a press conference in Toronto on March 14 about who will be performing this year. Higgins also said the bands were already confirmed and signed for the summer’s event, but the announcements of who will play have not yet been made.
It will be the seventh year for Big Music Fest.
Andrew Parronchi, a Kitchener resident, said he will be waiting to hear the lineup before he decides if he will be attending. He said that the acts will make a huge different in the turnout.
“I support all arts coming to the area, even if it is something that I wouldn’t attend. I think it’s great that there is another live music festival coming and it’s real bands, not DJs,” Parronchi said.
There are already several large music festivals held in the Kitchener-Waterloo area such as KOI Music Festival, Kitchener Blues Festival and Cambridge’s Rock the Mill.
Higgins is hoping the festival will attract 30,000 people per day on the weekend. According to a story in the Cambridge Times, this could mean $20 million for Kitchener’s economy over the course of a single weekend.
Go to bigmusicfest.com for announcements in the coming days regarding the artists as well as ticket prices.
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What a terrible choice in venue, There is absolutely no way there will be adequate parking and people live around this park, People who work weekends and shift work. I would be applying to the city for compensation for lost income as it was unsafe to work without proper sleep. If they didnt pay up I would sue. I love music and concerts but a park on Ottawa street already a disaster to travel on is a terrible Idea.
McLennan Park is a beautiful park with loads of parking.As for noise;there is just as much from the traffic.Get a set of earplugs!! I am looking forward to such a big concert in the heart of our city.