For the first year being held at McLean Mill, the Five Acre Shaker saw more than 1,300 people come through the gates to enjoy the Port Alberni music festival.
Held from Aug. 10 to 13, the Shaker brought bands from around the province to the mill’s 37 acres.
“Overall the Shaker was a huge success and went off without a hitch,” wrote Shaker organizer Lance Goddard in an email. “We were really happy with how we budgeted the event this year and how everything worked out.”
Goddard said the event couldn’t have happened without the help from sponsors, volunteers and artists.
“We would like to give a huge thank you to the McLean Mill Society for seeing our vision and letting us follow through with it, to Deanna Beaudoin and her staff and board members who were a pleasure to work with and to the City of Port Alberni for supporting our event,” Goddard wrote.
“Thanks to Deb Roberts of the BC Ambulance Service as well as the volunteers from Cherry Creek, Beaver Creek and Port Alberni Fire Department for working with us prior to, and during the event, for fire and first aid support and allowing our event to proceed without any major incidents.”
Goddard said there were no calls made to the RCMP over the weekend.
McLean Mill will again be the site for next year’s Shaker, that Goddard said will be bigger and better.
“Bigger headliners, more activities for guests, expanding the camping area and we are also looking into making the event family-friendly in which we would implement a kid play zone and have a family camping area separate from the general camping area,” he said. “We want everyone to be able to walk through the gates and enjoy what we have put together, but at the same time create a safe environment for each demographic.”
And so the planning begins for next year. Anyone wanting to become a volunteer, sponsor or looking to help out in any way – even just have an idea for Shaker 2018— can email Lance at lance@fiveacre.ca.
