ELEMENT FEST GROWS ORGANICALLY >>>
In more ways than one, Element Music Festival cofounder Keith Duggan is living the dream.
On the affordability front, the events-industry veteran has been lucky enough to win the realestate lottery in Vancouver and move up to Princeton. It’s there in the B.C. Interior that Duggan has been able to realize a lifelong goal.
Along with three partners (Robert Christy, Bruce Macaulay, and Justin Picard), the hard-core music fan was able to purchase a 160-acre piece of property with a natural amphitheatre that he likens to the famous Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington state.
“It’s a little bit smaller, but you can paint that picture,” Duggan says, speaking on his cellphone from Princeton.
“There’s a lake on-site and tons of camping. So we did it—we cashed out of Vancouver, we bought this property, and for the last two years we’ve been developing.”
A major part of that development has been the building of the Snug Lake Amphitheatre.
“We own the property outright, and because it’s our property we were like, ‘What do we want to do now? Hey, let’s build a venue,’” Duggan says. “That way we can pick and choose the events we do.”
Determined to do just that, Duggan and his partners bought the old Vancouver Folk Music Festival stage and a Saddlespan tent, and then hooked up with an audio and light company (Skaha Sound) in Penticton. Last year saw them do a small dry-run festival at their new venue with acts—including Five Alarm Funk and Brickhouse—that they’ve become friends with over the years.
That event, which attracted around 300 fans, has set the table for a festival this summer that Duggan and his business partners—who’ve incorporated as Element Music and Events Inc.—couldn’t be more excited about. Imagine not only having your own concert venue, but also having the contacts to stage a festival with some of your favourite bands.
That’s what will happen from August 3 to 6 at the Snug Lake Amphitheatre, when the Element Music Festival will feature jamband giants like the String Cheese Incident and Garaj Mahal. Also on the bill will be improv-guitar great Steve Kimock and Friends, Colorado prog-rockers Genetics, Vancouver’s Big Easy Funk Ensemble, and the return of both Five Alarm Funk and Brickhouse. Bands will end up doing multiple sets over the festival.
“Element is going to be our flagship, because this is the music that we love,” Duggan says. “That being said, we kind of shot for the moon this year. Getting String Cheese Incident for three days—that happened because they are old buddies of ours from, like, ’99. They are doing huge 50,000- to 60,000-people festivals in the States. And we’re doing, like, 4,000 this year. Getting Garaj Mahal back together after a decade—those guys, again, are friends of ours and they wanted to support the project, plus they wanted to play the venue, which was totally sweet. Same goes with Kimock.