Village of Pemberton councillors expressed frustration at Tuesday's (Dec. 7) meeting over a roadblock in the way of opening up the Pemberton Festival grounds to any interested event promoter.
Mayor Jordan Sturdy reported to council that the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) chose not to support a proposed amendment to the memorandum of understanding on the land that would have removed 2008 festival promoter Live Nation's exclusivity to host an event.
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board and the Village had already supported the fourth-party application made by the landowner, but Sturdy said the ALC was not specific about its reasons to reject it.
However, he also said that ALC panel members indicated to him that "an application… coming from the community would perhaps be viewed differently."
Sturdy denied that the amendment was proposed because a new promoter had expressed interest in producing an event.
"It indicates that having options is a good thing," said Sturdy. "Our preference would be to see Live Nation come back and produce another festival. But failing that, we need to keep our options open and look for other alternatives."
Council directed staff to work with the SLRD on drafting their own amendment to the MOU that would appear before both bodies' meetings early next week.
Other than to say that there were "ongoing discussions" with Live Nation on a new festival, Sturdy said he couldn't comment on any specifics.
A Pemberton delegation that included Sturdy traveling to London for a meeting with Live Nation officials in August brought optimism for a 2011 festival, but nothing further has been revealed since.
Meanwhile, Live Nation hasn’t updated its position on any possible return for the event. In an email to The Question on Nov. 30, a Live Nation spokesperson said: “For the time being, we have put plans to stage the next Pemberton Festival on hold while we work with local officials on issues which will make the festival financially feasible for us. We hope that we will be able to bring the Festival back to Pemberton at some point in the future.”
