‘Team effort’

Jeff Squires ‘honoured’ to accept CCMA award for Cavendish Beach Music Festival

Jeff Squires was sitting in a sea of 2,500 delegates this past Friday at the CCMA Industry Luncheon and Awards in Hamilton, Ont., when he heard the announcement. For the first time in its 10-year history, the Cavendish Beach Music Festival had won the Canadian Country Music Association’s award for top festival. And as he walked toward the podium he was filed with pride. “It’s a great honour to be recognized by the industry. Any time you win a national award, it’s definitely a great honour,” says the CEO of Whitecap Entertainment who accepted the award on behalf of the company. Now home on P.E.I., Squires wants to recognize everyone who has been involved in the music festival held annually in July in Cavendish, a resort community located 39 km from Charlottetown. ‘’It’s an unbelievable team effort. To do that event on P.E.I. on that second week of July truly takes a provincial effort for everybody involved. I can’t stress (the importance of) the different stake holders – from the Cavendish Municipality to all the tourist operators to security – every area. It takes so much team effort; all these people have lots to be proud of.” Squires says the team extends to people across P.E.I. “We have great community and provincial support. All the service providers, from all across the Island, who work so hard in specific departments, in building the event, insuring the event and executing it on a yearly basis on such a high level are all contributing factors to the recognition we have received here.” Like the ripples of a stone thrown into a pond, this recognition will have an ongoing effect. “It continues to build reputation. Every year we engage the stakeholders in conversations on what can be done. So, we’ll continue to facilitate these conversations and continue to move it forward. “It’s truly a world class event.”