P.E.I. municipality looking to firm up event guidelines after second major festival in Cavendish

Cavendish revisiting special events guidelines Resident in Cavendish, P.E.I., will be able to voice their concerns on the area's biggest events at a public meeting Monday night.

Residents and business owners in the Cavendish P.E.I. area will be able to voice their concerns Monday about two of the Island’s biggest events.

All is quiet at the main stage in Cavendish, but earlier this month tens of thousands were here for a pair of back-to-back weekend music festivals: The Cavendish Beach Music Festival and — new this year — Sommo Festival.

Some controversy followed the announcement of the second festival, with many in the community voicing concerns about how the event could disrupt the normal family tourist market.

However, there have been few complaints since, with organizers and local officials saying they’ve mostly heard good things about Sommo Festival.

However, some tourist operators in the area say they would still like to see the festival pushed out of the peak season when the community is already doing well to attract visitors.

In response to the expanding scope of festivals in Cavendish, the Resort Municipality is revisiting its special events guidelines. The municipality’s mayor, Matthew Jelley, said right now the guidelines are a stopgap measure to manage the growing Cavendish Beach Music Festival since it started in 2014.

“The guidelines were based and built around how multiple, or additional, festivals would work,” said Jelley. “Now that we’ve had a second major festival, I think it’s a good time to take a look.”

Jelley said they’re looking to integrate the guidelines into municipal bylaws to make them consistent for organizers who wish to plan large events in the community going forward.

“Whether you’re building an apartment building, or an amusement attraction, or whatever it might be, you want the bylaws to give you an idea of what may or may not be permitted before you make a significant investment in a proposal or undertaking a festival,” Jelley said.

The public has the chance to have their say Monday at the North Rustico Lions Club.

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