Robert Fisher
Staff Reporter
PALMER RAPIDS – Promoters of a proposed music festival in Brudenell, Lyndoch and Raglan (BLR) held a second public information session Monday night at the arena in Palmer Rapids.
The meeting hall was nearly full with people both for and against the festival there to listen to the promoters and have their say. There were more people opposed than in favour of the event.
The event is proposed to be held at the site of Camp Walden on Highway 28, south of Palmer Rapids with some overflow on neighbouring properties for camping and parking.
The promoters approached administrators of Camp Walden about holding the festival. Sol Birenbaum, camp director, told the audience he initially said no and introduced the promoters to other camp operators in the area who also all said no.
Walden operates a music festival in late September which draws about 500 people and has about 100 staff on site. The Knwhere (pronounced Nowhere) festival is proposing up to 5,000 attendees and several hundred others for security, policing and medical care.
Birenbaum said that the promoters approached him a second time, asking him to have an open mind.
Birenbaum and the promoters discussed concerns he had about the event. “I can’t say it was the very first thing I said but certainly in the top four objections that I had were, ‘what about the neighbours.’”
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