Summer starts with Shakedown
Lake Cowichan site ready to welcome up to 1,500 fans
A busy summer of events at Laketown Ranch Music and Recreation Park starts this weekend with the first of three Laketown Shakedowns.
Vancouver Island acts Current Swell, Jon and Roy, Neon Steve, Towers and Trees, Carmanah and others will appear on Sunday at the Lake Cowichan festival.
Classic rockers Trooper will headline the second instalment of Laketown Shakedowns on June 8-9, with the series coming to a close on Aug. 31-Sept. 2, featuring a lineup not yet announced.
All events will be held at Laketown Ranch, which boasts one of the biggest festival footprints in the province. “The buzz has been really strong for this show,” said venue manager Mike Hann. “The response has been awesome.”
The festival is not using the massive main stage that is in play during the Sunfest Country Music Festival, which is expected to attract between 20,000 and 30,000 fans on Aug. 2-5.
Hann said the Laketown Shakedowns will operate with a 1,500person capacity and use the area of the site that houses the much smaller Flats Stage.
Wideglide Entertainment, which operates the 172-acre parcel of land, made considerable upgrades to the stage during the off-season, expanding the footprint and adding amenities that make the Flats area of the site — which is surrounded by a rustic village with food and beverage offerings and services housed in cedar shacks — more functional than in previous years.
“The intention was to keep the festival intimate, but enhance the experience in that area,” Hann said. “We’ve definitely achieved that. Moving forward, I think that area is going to be the most-used space at Laketown Ranch. That’s why we’re putting so much energy into it right now. It’s the only turn-key outdoor venue on Vancouver Island that is ready to go for 1,500 to 2,000 people.”
The roof formerly affixed to the main stage at the Cowichan Exhibition Grounds in Duncan, where Sunfest spent its infancy, has been permanently installed over the revamped Flats Stage.
“All the changes that we’ve made to the area are going to serve us, rain or shine,” Hann said. “If it’s blazing hot, there’s going to be some shade and if it’s raining, which it doesn’t look it’s going to be, it will give you cover.”
As with any event at Laketown Ranch, on-site camping will play a large role this weekend. With the majority of attendees travelling from Victoria, staying on-site is an appealing option for festivalgoers, and adds to the community feel that has come to define events held at Laketown Ranch.
The same amenities enacted during Sunfest — showers and flush toilets — will be open this weekend, but the overall feel of the event will be boutique, rather than big-business. That was the approach from an artistic perspective when it came to the bookings, Hann said. The festival features rock, folk, and electronic acts in equal amounts, and will schedule acts from opposing genres back to back in some cases.
“We’ve programmed this a little bit differently in the sense that we’re showcasing different genres and these are all Vancouver Island artists. Someone who is more inclined to go see Current Swell might also get exposed to a dance band or a great electronic artist like Neon Steve, who they might not otherwise see.”
Heat can be an issue at Laketown Ranch, when temperatures in the valley rise during a heat wave. Being situated across from Cowichan Lake is a bonus, and Hann is hoping those attending the Laketown Shakedowns through the summer take in the surroundings. Programming will start later in the day, freeing up adventure time for fans, he said.
“The reason for that is we want to encourage people to travel. All the outdoor activity you can do in the region, we want to encourage people to take in the area and come back to the site and take in the music that is coming from this region, as well. It’s a celebration of the area, more than anything.”