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Whistler – In the early moments of a public forum seeking Pemberton-area residents’ input about the inaugural Pemberton Festival, lead organizer Shane Bourbonnais told the approximately 150 people who packed the gym at the new community centre that if he received a thumbs-up from the audience about the 2009 festival, “I’m going to be heading into the SLRD office tomorrow with an ALC application.”
A short while later, though, the Pemberton resident and official for the international concert promotion company Live Nation was forced to backtrack somewhat on that assertion.
During a meeting last Thursday (Sept. 11) that was mostly a Live Nation love fest with a few serious concerns mixed in, Mount Currie Band Councillor Ruth Dick provided the most sobering moment when she challenged Bourbonnais on his promise to get the ball rolling for next year post haste.
“Everybody is all in glory here, but nobody has yet asked about the experience that we had,” Dick — who stressed that she was speaking for herself, not on behalf of the band council — said. She mentioned he discovery of considerable amounts of drugs and alcohol on the site after the July 25 to 27 music festival as just one of her concerns.
“I urge you not to submit your ALC application until after you have talked to Mount Currie Council.”
Bourbonnais said he plans to meet with the band’s elected leaders on Sept. 23 and acknowledged that he shouldn’t get the ball rolling until sometime after that date, if he does at all. However, he and Mayor Jordan Sturdy, who MCed the meeting in the shiny new hall, said Live Nation needs to know the community’s will by Oct. 31 if it’s to have enough time to start planning for 2009.
After the meeting, Dick said she wants to ensure that Lil’wat Nation concerns are heard and heeded. She said a survey from Live Nation went out to the community, but only about two dozen were returned, most expressing the same concerns raised by others — i.e. traffic, garbage and the like.
“The comments I’ve heard are mixed,” she said. “There were some who bought tickets and enjoyed the concert and there were some who lived nearby and had to listen to the music whether they wanted to or not.
“I think we in Mount Currie just need to hear more about it and talk about it before we consider whether we support it or not.”
On the matter of the ALC (B.C.’s Agricultural Land Commission), Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) Area C director Susie Gimse said the SLRD and Village of Pemberton had received a letter from ALC officials expressing interest in the outcome of the public input process and, if the results are positive, “they want to establish a meeting with Jordan, myself and Shane in the very near future.”
Tuesday’s (Sept. 16) Pemberton Council meeting package included copies of two separate letters from ALC Chair Erik Karlsen inviting Bourbonnais and Bruce Edmonds, Acting Chief of the Lil’wat Nation, to appear at the ALC’s Oct. 1 meeting to discuss the festival. Edmonds had sent an earlier letter to the ALC about the festival.
In the past two months, ALC officials have voiced opposition to future music festivals on the current site on the grounds that the 130-acre parcel is prime agricultural land. Gimse’s news appears to be a demonstration of ALC officials’ willingness to listen and, perhaps, soften their stance.
Bourbonnais acknowledged serious problems with festival organization. He said he was “embarrassed” with the garbage situation and admitted that there were “massive security problems,” at least some of them related to the performance of some, but not all, of the people working for the festival’s security contractor.
“I think there were some great people working security… but we didn’t have enough of them,” he said.
One man who was part of the festival staff said that even though radios were handed out to a variety of subcontractors, it was difficult to raise the right person when a question or problem arose. He suggested one common radio channel for all the subcontractors so that any member of the staff could call in and be connected to the right person.
Bourbonnais also said that as one way to deal with the massive traffic problems that arose, he has already talked to Rocky Mountaineer Railtours, operators of the Whistler Mountaineer, about the possibility of hiring a train to shuttle passengers from Whistler to Pemberton and back.
Many of the problems, Bourbonnais said, were at least partly related to the short timeline organizers had to pull together such a huge event.
“We lost money because we didn’t have enough time to stage the event, and when you have problems with an event, what do you do? You throw money at the problem and hire contractors” at premium prices, he said. He estimated that Live Nation “leaked” about $1.5 million just because of the short timelines.
However, citing the fact that 93 per cent of festival patrons surveyed rated the experience as “good to excellent,” and coverage from the likes of Rolling Stone that described Pemberton as “the next Glastonbury” — one of Europe’s longest-running and most successful music festivals — Bourbonnais said he’ll be excited to work toward Pemberton Festival 2009, if the community wants it.
In an informal show of hands, about 80 per cent those in attendance did support it.
However, Bourbonnais said if he doesn’t feel reasonably assured that the organizational problems will be substantially improved, he won’t do it.
A few days before the forum, one Pemberton businessperson who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Question she felt some business owners would be hesitant to voice their criticisms during Thursday’s public forum.
“I feel that many businesses don’t feel comfortable expressing how they actually felt about the festival, especially those who lost money during the event when they expected that they would make money after hearing what Live Nation was… saying what they expected it could bring in,” she said.
During private meetings that have taken place since the festival, she said, “When invited to voice my feelings, I felt that I was shut down quickly and no responsibility was taken on Live Nation’s part.”
If the festival does go ahead next year, Bourbonnais said he expects that Live Nation would lose money again, though not as much as this year. “In Year 3, if we showed a small profit, that would be a good progression,” he said. “But if we do again what we did this year, then I’ll be going to Jordan, looking for a job on his farm.”
In response to the shouted question, “Who’s playing next year?” Bourbonnais said, “I’ve had contacts from bands already, saying ‘When can we sign?’ I will promise you now, we’ll bring the best acts we can bring.”
There were other light-hearted moments. One speaker said she wanted to see more “locals’ privileges” in addition to the locals’ rate on tickets. “I’d like to see cheap beer for locals,” she said.
Said Chamber of Commerce representative Sandy Ryan, “I like that. Are you running for Council?”
The Pemberton and District Chamber of Commerce and Live Nation are facilitating three focus groups related to the festival: Moving People, Environmental Stewardship, and Health and Security. Those interested in being part of those groups may contact the Chamber.
