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The Squamish Valley Music Festival ran from 2010 to 2015 before folding in 2016. Headliners over the years included megastars such as Drake, Bruno Mars and The Tragically Hip. At its final year peak, the event drew 125,000 over the three days.

Event organizers BRANDLIVE and Live Nation Canada cancelled the event citing, among other things, the falling Canadian dollar, increased competition from other regional festivals and logistics. Andrews says that the new event took these factors into account in conceiving the new festival. The plan is to develop a summer season anchor for cultural events throughout the well-travelled Seat To Sky Corridor.

Photo by Mark Yuen / PNG

“The previous festival grew to be so big that the town was really growing in around it, and that made it very hard for the previous presenters to get the assurances they needed for parking spaces, camping spaces and so forth for the 35,000 – 40,000 daily patron levels they were at,” she said.

“We are an entirely different festival who won’t be providing camping, although there are camping partners, and we are looking at a cap in the first year of 7500 which is about 25 per cent of where it was before. Knowing what we need to secure the space longterm and understanding Squamish, we are looking to grow over four years to a maximum of about 17,000 and cap it at that.”

The more manageable size of the Squamish Constellation Festival follows the increasing trend of capping size and creating more intimate curated events. Andrews says to stay tuned for internationally known headliners and other highly recognizable artists gracing the outdoor stages.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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