Evolve music festival concerns some in Beersville, pleases others

Some music fans say the move of the Evolve Festival from Antigonish to a rural property in Kent County is Nova Scotia's loss and New Brunswick's gain.

But some people who live near the new location aren't looking forward to it.

The new site of the festival is a farm near Beersville, about 45 minutes from Moncton, and the scheduled dates are July 8 - 10.

• Evolve Festival leaves Antigonish for Beersville, N.B.

• Evolve festival loses licence in Antigonish County due to lack of medical plan

Two families that live in the area spoke to CBC, but did not want to be identified.

Both are worried about the three-day concert and party, with one saying they didn't want their quiet lifestyle disturbed by loud music going well into the night.

Another said he could sometimes overhear the lawn mower on that land, and that the music will be much worse.

But the previous owner of the land, Rachel Jenkins, is excited for the festival to happen in the area.

"It's going to offer all sorts of opportunities for the local community, for Kent County," said Jenkins. "It's a beautiful place to have a festival. We used to hold the Green Festival here so it's been used in the past."

She believes the event should not bother anyone.

"I mean the nearest community is seven or eight kilometres away," Jenkins said. "There is only a couple of neighbours locally and at the end of the day the festival is only three days, so it's not as if an industry is moving into the farm that is going to cause a lot of disruption all year round."

Jenkins sold the land to the executive producer of the Evolve festival, Jonas Colter, who is from New Brunswick.

Colter had found the property on Kijiji, after he was forced to look for other options when the municipality of Antigonish revoked his events license.

The decision was made after Colter was unable to provide the municipality with a medical plan on deadline.

Even though the organizers of Evolve have announced the Beersville location as its venue, the province's environment and local government department said it has yet to receive an application for a permit.