A portion of the proceeds was to benefit the school’s construction of a music recording studio for its students. The local food bank and other charities would have reaped the benefits as well, had the biggest revenue stream, alcohol sales, not been eliminated.
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Line Spike Frontenac, an outdoor music festival being held in Harrowsmith over the weekend, ran into some trouble when it lost its liquor license — just days before the event.
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Ten musical performers over two days, June 28 and 29th, will be playing to a sober crowd, unless they bring their own alcohol. This is permissible by law as the event is located on private property, an open field at 3587 Harrowsmith Rd., in South Frontenac Township.
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Its organizer, Jeremy Campbell, told the Whig-Standard on Friday that this is a huge loss in many ways.
“If I don’t have a liquor license, I lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is necessary to pay for all of this,” Campbell added. “Not to mention the fundraising for Sydenham High School. Now they’ll suffer, too.”
A portion of the proceeds was to benefit the school’s construction of a music recording studio for its students. The local food bank and other charities would have reaped the benefits as well, had the biggest revenue stream — alcohol sales — not been eliminated.
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“I was relying on corporate sponsors — these beer companies and others — who pay for their spot at the festival,” Campbell said.
Campbell also expressed great concern over the health and safety issues these changes can present.
“It ends up creating an environment where people bring their own alcohol and that can be very unsafe,” Campbell said. “We had provincially licensed people to sell alcohol in a controlled environment, but because that isn’t the case now, anyone can bring in anything to consume. There’s no regulation of alcohol consumption — intoxication restrictions, age limits, now out the window.”
The event is to be headlined by Canadian legend Burton Cummings and also features the likes of Chantal Kreviazuk, Walk off the Earth, Alan Frew, Tom Green, Kelsi Mayne, Madison Galloway, the Grievous Angels, as well as Kingston’s Kasador and Luscious.
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According to Campbell, South Frontenac Township emergency support teams (EMS, Fire and Rescue) pulled out of the deal because the contract was never settled.
“The dollar amount had increased since our initial verbal agreement plus other erroneous words and terms were included in the contract. Some things I never agreed to,” Campbell said.
Campbell said the township paramedics’ office told him to “just sign it anyway, and we’ll change it later.” He refused and sent it back.
“I know better than to do that. I’ve been in this business long enough to know not to sign until it’s finalized,” Campbell said.
Campbell, a Frontenac township native, has spent the last three decades in the Toronto area working in the music industry and has worked at and organized live music events before.
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He now comes home to give back to his community while fighting cancer.
When Campbell didn’t hear back from the township emergency services, with only days before the event, he said he reached out to the local volunteer fire department to best fulfill the licensing agreement and ensure a safe environment.
According to Campbell, this did not satisfy the township.
“They wanted the $18,000 to $22,000 it would have cost for their emergency services (paramedics, fire and rescue). Now that they weren’t going to see that money in the coffers, they pulled the “significant event designation,” Campbell said.
He continued to explain that Louise Fragnito, chief administrative officer (CAO) of South Frontenac Township, then advised the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to pull the liquor license.
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Fragnito issued an official statement on Saturday, the opening day of the event.
“The township provided a municipally significant event designation on June 10th for the Line Spike Frontenac event based on a plan and commitments provided by the event organizer that were reviewed by an event group comprised of various agencies such as the various township departments, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Cataraqui Region Conservation Area (CRCA), Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), KFL&A health, the County of Frontenac and Frontenac paramedic services,” the statement read.
“The provided plan and commitments came after months of discussions between the group and the event organizer. The event organizer understood the importance of these commitments from the beginning. Earlier this week, significant changes were made to this plan removing many of the original commitments, which led to the reassessment of the designation. After discussion with the event organizer along with the event group, the municipally significant event designation was revoked by the Township on Wednesday June 25th.
“The township issued a noise bylaw exemption and a building permit for the event. Those remain in place. The liquor license for the event is issued under a special occasion permit for a public event, which is managed by the AGCO.
“The Township remains committed to decisions that serve and support the well-being of our whole community,” Fragnito said.
BiHall@postmedia.com
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