Blues Festival site faces quick turnover after Canada Day

Prince Arthur’s Landing was looking a lot like a busy ant colony on Thursday, as crews scurried to ready the park to host this weekend's Thunder Bay Blues Festival.

Cables are being run, fences installed, the light tower is going up and speakers are being put in place ahead of the summer staple, this year being headlined by Johnny Reid and fan favourite Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Paul Rodgers, the former Free and Bad Company front man who will close out the festival on Sunday night.

It should be business as usual on the weekend, said Thunder Bay Community Auditorium spokesman Trevor Hurtig, the work continuing unabated behind him.

“It looks like a blues festival happening down here, so we’re really happy with that,” Hurtig said.

The turnaround time has made things a little tougher than normal, with Canada Day festivities taking place on Wednesday.

That didn’t leave a lot of time to get the site ready to rock, but a little forethought helped ease the transition, Hurtig said.

“We worked closely with the city to make sure some of our tents were in place, some of our food vendors were in place for yesterday, so it just carried over,” Hurtig said.

“That worked really well. But this is as close as we can go. Next year we’ll have to push it back a little bit.”

Canada Day will be on a Friday next summer, meaning the festival will likely take place starting on July 8.

While Blues Fest regulars won’t notice many changes in 2015, there are two significant differences.

First and foremost is the no-smoking policy.

Brought on by provincial legislation, festival-goers will not be allowed to smoke within the confines of the festival area.

Hurtig said they’ve done their best to accommodate those needing a nicotine fix.

“We have set up an area over on the grass, kind of outside the main gate, so people can have a smoke there and not have to go way outside of the field,” he said.

The wrist-band policy allows unlimited entry and exit to and from the site, though patrons are subject to searches each time they return.
The other main change will see the area immediately in front of the stage reserved for people holding VIP passes only.

Hurtig said he doesn’t anticipate the fenced-off area will create much backlash from the rest of the audience.

In past years the front of the stage has been rush seating, on a first-come, first-served basis, though many in the crowd pushed their way up to the front as the headliners take the stage.

“We’re hoping they’ll really enjoy that this year,” Hurtig said. “The feedback we’ve gotten so far is the people who like to have those spots have been pretty happy to just go with that and either make a decision to either get as close as they can without going in that section or buy the VIP pass. We haven’t really had any complaints about that.”

The Thunder Bay Blues Festival kicks off Friday night with local act The Boardroom Gypsies taking the stage at 5 p.m. Loose Cannon and The Krazy Kenny Project will open on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.