East Coast Music Festival Coming to Cold Lake

Live Music with a Celtic Flare

City of Cold Lake Council heard a presentation from the East Coast Garden Party Association, representative Justin Elliott & Kevin O’toole, last week. The association plans to bring the music festival, East Coast Garden Party, to the city in August of 2017. Mayor of Cold Lake, Craig Copeland says members of the community have been longing for a music festival to be held in Cold Lake and he believe it will be well-received.

“We’re pretty excited to have them come into the city,” Mayor Copeland says the association hosts similar festivals in Fort McMurray and Yellowknife. “The community has been asking for something like this for years. They’re stepping up to the plate, so I’m sure Council will take a look at what we can do from the City.” Mayor Copeland says nothing is confirmed but the City does has resources like a power plant and a stage that could assist in ensuring the festival runs smoothly. “We have to see what they want and what we can do.”

East Coast Garden Party Association hosts various festivals across the country, they’ll be responsible for the booking of the entertainment and the general operation of the festival. The association hasn’t yet made an ask to the City, other than to approve the festival. According to City documents, “they are a not for profit organization, with a mandate of providing music to communities with a rock and Celtic flare.  They try to  work closely with the not for profits in the community and provide a donation to them for their volunteer participation.  They also try to source as many of the expenses to the local community, where ever possible, adding  revenue to the local economy.  Economic spin offs for the local community are in the hundreds of thousands for events like theirs. They are hoping it is something Council will support and appreciate this event coming to the city.”

Mayor Copeland says the festival will be held in the area of the Energy Centre. “Probably where the soccer fields are to the left, because it has highway frontage.”

The festival is planned to be family-friendly, “everything from bouncy castles to midway rides.”