Area 506 Makes it Official: The Popular Waterfront Festival Will Return Next Year
After drawing 6,500 people to the evening concerts – and nearly 50,000 overall including the daytime visitors to the container village on New Brunswick Day weekend – you could forgive Saint Johners for thinking it was a forgone conclusion that the Area 506 festival would take place again next year.
Well, committee chair Ray Gracewood is now making it official.
“We’re confident enough in the community reaction to 506 to be able to commit and say we’re going to do the event next year on the New Brunswick Day long weekend,” Gracewood said in a phone interview Friday afternoon.
“Some people assume it’s a foregone conclusion. That’s the sense that I get…But we’ll be sending out a ‘save the date’ shortly to confirm and let everybody know,” he said, adding that they aren’t yet ready to announce a lineup for next year.
The second-year festival on the Saint John waterfront made great gains over last year, which was a success itself. The 6,500 bracelets issued this year doubled the number from last year.
At the events themselves, and in conversations in the weeks since, Gracewood got a strong sense of how much people enjoyed the weekend events and activities.
Many people, in particular, told him the second night featuring Les Hay Babies, Grand Theft Bus, Matt Mays, Bahamas and the Strumbellas was “magical,” with the clear skies and moon visible over the harbour behind the stage.
“Hearing that sort of feedback makes us feel vindicated,” he said, by the decision to organize the first Area 506 last year, and then do it again this year.
“Last year, we took a flyer on an idea, and didn’t quite know what to expect. Last year we over-delivered. This year, we raised the bar again.”
The concerts on both nights were packed and people had a great time, but they also flocked to the container village in the daytime to see musical acts, buy local food and goods, and check out the creative and artistic way the shipping containers were repurposed, as part of a contest called Cargo-Tecture.
The public, residents and visitors alike, have embraced the festival in way that makes Gracewood feel optimistic about the potential for even more growth next year.
“It makes us feel like we’ve got something…I hope the people of Saint John have that same feeling that it’s unique and different in a way feels right for the city,” he said, “and that it’s something they can own and continue to help grow.
“That’s given me the motivation to continue and see how big we can make this thing.”