While some music festivals sing the blues, Surrey's FVDED strikes a chord

While some higher-profile music festivals in B.C. have run into trouble in recent years, a festival in Surrey is singing a different tune.

FVDED in the Park kicks off Friday, and the two-day event will see tens of thousands of people pack Holland Park for acts like the Chainsmokers, Wiz Khalifa, Badbadnotgood and PartyNextDoor.

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The Chainsmokers and Wiz Khalifa are two big name headliner acts, and at a time when the loonie is so weak compared to the U.S. dollar, they don't come cheap.

"The U.S. exchange was crazy. They worked with us a little bit," promoter Alvaro Prol said.

"I think our longstanding relationships with the agencies and the artists are able to help us do that. We really wanted to make sure all the right ingredients were there for us to be successful and it took a while to get them all together."

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Other festivals going under

It's a tough time to be in the music festival business: the Pemberton Music Festival went bankrupt this year and last year, the Squamish Music Festival folded.

But FVDED is nearly sold out and Prol says the festival offers something unique.

"The model of camping and the kind of money that you need to spend to be in that space it's hard," he said.

"This one works for us because it's accessible. Anybody can come. You can get on the SkyTrain.You're in and out of there.There's no traffic issues.There's no camping, and all these other things that bring a lot of layers of complicated logistics to festivals of this size."

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Music fan Aaron Maharaj is a big fan of the festival, and it doesn't hurt that he lives in a highrise next door and gets a free show.

"We invite a bunch of friends over and we have a barbecue and everyone gets to watch from the balcony," he said.

"Sometimes we get to go up to the roof of our building. We have roof access, so we go up there."

Appropriately, the act Maharaj is most excited to see is PartyNextDoor.

With files from Jesse Johnston and Matt Meuse