With summers in the Sea to Sky corridor becoming increasingly packed with events, organizers of the Two Acre Shaker are confident they picked the right weekend for the fifth installment of their one-day music festival.
The event will begin at noon on Aug. 17 and carry on until around 5 a.m. with a variety of bands and DJs, to be announced. "It's kind of the only day that works for us," says Pat McKinnon, who founded the festival along with Lon Flath and Kirk Becker. "The weekend before that is the Squamish Valley Music Festival and the weekend after is Ironman. Then a couple weekends before that is Bass Coast."
Although the shaker overlaps with the final day of Crankworx, they're hoping to capitalize on the huge crowd attending that event in Whistler. "We're pretty confident we can get the numbers we need to make the party work out, even on that weekend," McKinnon says. "This year, our plan is to figure out ways we can engage that crowd who are here for Crankworx to check out the shaker."
Last year, organizers were left scrambling to secure the Mount Currie Rodeo Grounds, 10 kilometres north of Pemberton, as a location after a failed attempt the year before. For 2013, permission for the grounds has been obtained and plans are underway much further in advance, McKinnon says. That adds up to a bigger lineup. "Our lineup is going to be next level compared to what we had in the past," he says. "We've got a couple bigger name acts coming in than (we've had at) previous events. We're pretty pumped."
They expect to reveal the final roster of artists and ticketing information some time during the first week of June. "I think we're way ahead of the game compared to where we've been in past years. We're really happy about how the organization process is going so far," he says.
The format of the event will be similar to last year (minus the broken down shuttles ferrying people between the site and Pemberton). "We'll have an hourly shuttle service," McKinnon says. "Pretty much everything else is going to be quite similar in terms of the structure of the event."
Voted Pemberton's Best Party annually in Pique's readers' poll since 2009, McKinnon says feedback has been strong already. "We're really pumped to be able to put this event on again this year, particularly with Bass Coast moving (from Squamish) to Merritt," he says. "I think it's awesome for people in the corridor to still have this homegrown event taking place."
Keep an eye out for more announcements at twoacreshaker.com or on their Two Acre Shaker Facebook group.
Squamish Valley Music Festival announces additional bands
The Squamish Valley Music Festival has unveiled its schedule, along with bands playing its Thursday night "hootenanny."
Indie-pop act Vampire Weekend will headline the official opening night, Friday Aug. 9, along with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Dan Mangan and Jurassic 5. On Saturday, rockers Queens of the Stone Age will close out the festival after Band of Horses and Childish Gambino.
Organizers recently revealed the return of the "Thursday Night Hootenanny" with Vancouver bands The Belle Game, Portage & Main and Dustin Bentall & The Smokes on Aug. 8. East coast singer-songwriter Matt Mays will headline that night.
Also added to the roster: Dragonette, Family of the Year and the Boom Booms.
Single day tickets are now on sale, along with weekend passes. For ticket information visit squamishfestival.com.
