World-class talent will rock Cavendish Beach Music Festival this weekend

A proliferation of plaid shirts, suntans and cowboy bootscan mean only one thing: Cavendish Week Music Festival is upon P.E.I. once again.

The annual country music festivalis back in Cavendish this weekend running from Friday to Monday with perhaps the biggest name in country music, Luke Bryan, headlining a sold-out show on Sunday.

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Jeff Squires, president and CEO of Whitecap Entertainment, said single-tickets for Sunday are already gone but as of Thursday afternoon other tickets are still available in limited quantities.

"We've always listened to the fans and tried to do our best to bring in the artists they wanted to see over the years," Squires told CBC News: Compass.

"Whether it's Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, or the Zach Brown Band it's all world-class talent."

'Customer friendly'

Concert-goers may notice a few changes to the venue this year, he said.

The event has some new sponsors and the main stage has changed a bit. Also, the venue layout is a little different to make it more"customer friendly" than it has been inthe past and to help out emergency responders if needed.

This was done mostly bymaking the entire venuelicensedto sell alcohol.

"In previous years, basically 85 per cent of the site would have been licensedand so it was a matter of making the other 15 per cent of the area licensedand making it more efficient for people to move around for service providers and emergency providers to do their job," he said.

Previously,there wasa segregated licensed area wherepeople were ID'd and given bracelets as they came in and the restof the site was alcohol-free.

Now, it will be an all-ages venue with alcohol made available on most of the site. There will be a specific dry section that will be alcohol-free,but the rest of the grounds will be licensed.

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In case the heat becomes a concern, Squires said there are places throughout the event to stay cool and hydrated.

This is the 10th anniversary of the country music festival which annually draws 17,000 to 22,000 people per day to the long weekend of concerts.

The event ends Monday eveningfollowing the final show, Shawn Mendes.

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