Planning Underway for 2017 Area 506 Festival
Though it’s the dead of winter, the organizers of Area 506, one of New Brunswick’s biggest summer festivals, are already hard at work to make this year’s event even bigger and better than the past year.
“[Last year] we had over 20,000 people come through over the two-day period, which was far beyond expectations,” said Ray Gracewood, the founder of the festival and chair of the organizing committee.
Area 506 is a two-day festival that celebrates uniqueness, diversity and all things incredible in New Brunswick. The event focuses on three aspects: music, culture and goods. Taking place on the Long Wharf area of Saint John, Area 506’s signature attraction is its vendor village made with shipping containers. This year, the festival will be on Aug 5 and 6.
“We invite cultural groups from all around the province to come and have some sort of interactive experience to show people that visit the festival what they do,” said Gracewood.
“We invite all brands, especially New Brunswick-based products, to show us what they do and sell their wares.”
This year, Gracewood said the festival organizers hope to be the hottest ticket of the New Brunswick Day long weekend and have as much attendance as last year.
Gracewood said companies who are vendors at the festival will be able to gain more brand awareness and show their New Brunswick pride.
“We are a firm believer that there are incredible things happening right here in the province,” he said.
“We are also a firm believer that this can be the sandbox that the companies can cut up on and communicate that message.”
Sarah Tippett, the owner of King Cole Tea, one of the brands that participated in Area 596 last year, said a lot of people stopped by the tent and the event overall was successful. King Cole Tea will participate in the festival again this year.
“We had a great time at Area506 last year,” said Tippett. “We had a fairly large tent to set up, but everyone was helpful in coordinating deliveries, so set-up and tear-down went fairly smoothly. “
The music component of the festival consists of acts from New Brunswick, as well as performers who are nationally and internationally renowned. Gracewood said the committee will announce the lineup in the next couple months.
Gracewood said one of the improvements this year will be making Area 506 more family and pet-friendly by adding a kids zone and a pet area.
The festival will also run non-stop from mid-afternoon to midnight, allowing people who attend the music concerts to shop for local products at the same time.
Other than the three big areas of music, culture and goods, Gracewood said there will be more focus on food this year.
“So we put in incredible venues that come out of a shipping container village, to be able to sell [food] right there, called Road of Restaurants,” said Gracewood.
The organizers are now looking for applications from restaurants, musicians and brands from across the province that would want to be a part of the event. Those who are interested people can apply at area506.ca.