In the Maritimes with our summers that are seemingly gone before we know it, nothing quite celebrates this wonderful season like the obligatory music festival. And while local music festivals such as Sappyfest, Mosaïq and others continue to thrive, the first in what is expected to be an annual festival is launching Saturday in Hillsborough.
The Bore Music Festival boasts a diverse line up of a dozen acts from Metro Moncton and beyond. Included in the line up is Saint John folk rockers Penny Blacks, Halifax indie-folk wonder Paper Beat Scissors as well as an eclectic line-up of singer songwriters including Marco Rocca, Zwerg, Jens Jeppensen and more.
Bore Music Festival organizer Kelly Sue O’Connor-Gatti tells The Times & Transcript that the seed for an all-day music festival was planted last year when she organized a similar type of event at Moncton’s Plan B Lounge.
“The idea behind The Bore Music Festival stemmed from wanting to hold another fundraiser for the Nature Trust of New Brunswick for whom I volunteer as much as possible,” she says. “Last year, we did a similar matinee show at Plan B. When it came to planning this year’s event, I pictured an all-day event held in Hillsborough, where I live. I really saw this as the opportunity to combine two things I really love: nature and music.”
It was O’Connor-Gatti’s discussion with other Hillsborough residents about the lack of live music regularly featured in the village that convinced her to base the festival there as opposed to conducting something similar in Moncton.
In addition to music, O’Connor-Gatti says that there will be a selection of vendors on site selling everything from clothes to gluten-free baking mixes.
Proceeds raised from Saturday’s show will benefit The Nature Trust of New Brunswick, a group dedicated to identifying, promoting, protecting and maintaining the province’s ecological landscapes.
O’Connor-Gatti shares that the ideal project for the proceeds to go towards is an upcoming trip to Grindstone Island, located in Shepody Bay. She says the island is rarely visited and rather difficult to get to but that the benefits of the project stand to be reaped by all New Brunswickers.
“The trip will bring together experts such a birders, conservationists, environmentalist and botanists to survey the island so a plan can be established for the management of the island.”
Article published in July 27, 2012 edition of the Times & Transcript