Uptown Live may be out of tune with the 12th Street Music Festival, but the Uptown Business Association likes the sound of Music Fest New West.
Neil Douglas, a member of the West End Business Association, told city council April 14 that he was taken aback when the organizer of this year's Uptown Live street festival contacted him about having the event on the same weekend as the 12th Street Music Festival. The West End Business Association passed a motion to ask that Uptown Live not be held on the same weekend as the 12th Street Music Festival, which is taking place on Sunday, July 27.
"They suggested they might do their event on Saturday, and us on Sunday," Douglas told council. "If people are out all day on Saturday at a festival, it's pretty unlikely they are going to want to do the same thing again on Sunday. They have to do a few other things on the weekend other than party."
The West End Business Association is concerned the two festivals could be competing with each other for vendors, advertising, sponsors and equipment. The 12th Street Music Festival features music and entertainment on stages, vendors, food and other activities.
"It works better for both groups if they find a different day for that," Douglas said.
Bart Slotman, a director with the Uptown Business Association, said it's proposing to hold Uptown Live on Saturday, July 26. He said a lot of Uptown Live's budget goes into marketing, so it would be in a position to cross promote both events.
"That's a really good date long-term for Uptown Live. I hope that people can understand that part of it. This is not about competing with 12th Street. This is about establishing a good date, long-term, based on availability of talent, based on the availability of equipment, based on what competing events are happening in the region," he said. "If we want to grow Uptown Live into a big regional event we have to be cognizant of those regional factors, not just local factors. If we can turn it into a big music weekend for New Westminster, I think we are onto something really cool."
Uptown Live is a street festival that features music on several stages, food trucks and more.
"They are two materially different events," Slotman said. "One is a regional event and the other one is a local event. It attracts a different sponsor, a different audience, a different performer, a different group of volunteers. It doesn't hold true that it's going to get watered down over two days."
Although the plan had been to hold Uptown Live on the same day as the Hyack Parade, Slotman said that didn't work out because of the timing at which it secured funding for the festival.
"The plan was always to have it three or four years on the same date as the Hyack Parade, let the event build and then move it to separate dates," he said. "This year we just didn't have a choice. We are going to have to do it this year simply because there wasn't enough time. I agree, it's probably one or two years earlier than planned, but we didn't have a choice in the matter considering the schedule we are working with. "
The Hyack Festival Association and the Uptown Business Association organized the first two Uptown Live events that were held on the day of the Hyack International Parade, but the business association is organizing this year's event on its own after a falling out between the two groups.
While it's a "little bit disappointing" to hear of the concerns of the West End Business Association, Slotman said he's confident the matter can be sorted out and people will recognize the synergies that can created by having both events on the same weekend.
"There is a real opportunity here to make this a music weekend in New West and have Uptown live on the Saturday and 12th Street on the Sunday. You could potentially have another event at whatever, say Massey Theatre, on Friday night or something along those lines," he said. "There's a real opportunity to make this a really synergetic music event in New West. Instead of seeing it as a threat, why don't we see this as an opportunity to work together to make a real regional event out of both of these events, or three events. The bigger picture here is not being looked at."
The City of New Westminster will meet with organizers of both events to discuss the matter. Council wasn't overly enthused to hear Uptown Live was being proposed on the same weekend as the 12th Street Music Festival and wasn't being held following the parade.
"The idea was to work together and help each other out so we could support each other," said Coun. Bill Harper. "We are not going to be putting festivals in jeopardy."
When council approved $28,000 in cash and $20,000 in in-kind city services for Uptown Live, it strongly encouraged the Uptown Business Association to hold the event on the same day as the Hyack parade.
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr, who has been involved with the 12th Street Music Festival, said organizers have worked hard to build it and to help change the image of 12th Street.
"It's been hard work making 12th Street what it is today," he said. "Anything we do that turns that backwards, I think is a disservice to the hard work that's gone on for years."
The 12th Street Music Festival is celebrating its 10th year in 2014.
"It took 10 years to become the success that it is. It was not without struggle," Puchmayr said. "I think three years ago there were 35 vendors. Last year there were 100 vendors. Two years ago people were beating the bushes to get vendors. This year, people are contacting the organization and want to be part of it."
Puchmayr said he's surprised the Uptown Live organizers would suggest the July date, as he believed they were going to try to find synergies by holding the event on the same day as the Hyack Parade.
"What I would hope would happen in the next week or so is we would have the opportunity to have that dialogue with 12th Street and with the city and look at the synergies that can be created, and a much better event that can be created, instead of two business associations fighting about one day," Slotman told The Record. "We should be above that stuff as far as I am concerned."
