It looks like the RCMP may have a messy situation to deal with this weekend, down the road from the first Pemberton Music Festival. Someone has been selling tickets to a second, unsanctioned event, dubbed the So Hood Summer Jam, which is being billed as an alternative to the Pemberton Festival, just down the road in Mount Currie.
The event is being advertised as offering three stages featuring performances by 10 hip hop acts, as well as decibel dual drag racing, camping, beer gardens, vendors and a hot tub party under the stars on 50 acres of land. Information is posted online on Craigslist and at www.canadiancaraudio.com and www.sohoodsummerjam.com .
The only problem? None of this has been approved by local government agencies.
Paul Edgington, chief administrative officer for the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, said they found out about the event at the end of June.
“We were advised by reps out at Mount Currie that people were planning on an event on land adjacent to the reserve,” said Edgington. “It’s our understanding that there had been a rave there, recently, that’s also unpermitted.”
To Edgington’s knowledge, no permits or approvals had been requested of any government agency.
“It’s not about shutting things down just because,” Edgington said, adding that there are safety issues that need to be considered, and that is why the permitting process is in place.
Tickets are advertised at $40 per person and $150 for a three-day camping pass, and were on sale at car stereo places throughout the Lower Mainland until as recently as last Friday. Edgington said that up to 900 people had purchased tickets.
“All the while that… one of the promoters of the event was just suggesting that it was something for him and his immediate friends,” Edgington added.
Edgington said representatives from Live Nation have been very supportive, but their concern is that if the So Hood Summer Jam does take place and something goes wrong, they may be associated with this rogue event.
“The disappointing thing is that the community, Live Nation, so many people have done so many wonderful things that you don’t want a few individuals to just take advantage and just spoil it,” he explained.
The SLRD decided to collect evidence about the rogue event — they had someone purchase tickets on their behalf so they could swear an affidavit confirming that tickets were, in fact, being sold.
On Tuesday, they filed court documents with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and on Wednesday morning, appeared before a judge to state their case. Zonta Enterprises Ltd. and William Leigh Finck are named in the court documents.
Edgington said that Zonta Enterprises Ltd., the company that owns the property in question, has actually been co-operating fully with the legal proceedings, and seems to have had no knowledge that this event was scheduled to take place over the weekend.
The SLRD was awarded an injunction to prevent organizers from holding the event, and the defendants were ordered to stop advertising and selling tickets, and to advertise that the event had been cancelled.
Now, the SLRD is taking out advertisements in media throughout the region, in the hope that people who purchased tickets will skip the trip up to Mount Currie altogether. They are entitled to recover the advertisement costs from the defendants.
RCMP Inspector Norm McPhail said they are aware of the So Hood Summer Jam situation, and are hoping that the advertising efforts will prevent people from making the trip. But they’re prepared to enforce the injunction, which could mean turning people away from the property.
Edgington is also advising people who purchased tickets to look for refunds through their ticketing agent.
Calls to the number posted on the advertisements for the So Hood Summer Jam were not returned.
