So-called “founders’ passes” for the Pemberton Music Festival sold out fast but more tickets will be made available soon.

On the phone driving down from Whistler, Huka Entertainment CEO A.J. Niland told the Straight that it was less than 15 minutes before the initial batch of tickets was snatched up. “We’re humbled,” he added.

The three-night music festival scheduled for July 18, 2014, was only announced last Wednesday. Lineup details won’t be revealed until January.

Niland told the Straight that he attributes the event’s early success to its location.

“It aligns with what we look for as festival producers,” he explained. “We want to do an event where people want to be in that location whether there was a festival or not and where the festival is just a huge cherry on top. I think that that the Pemberton location is just that beautiful.”

Niland said that Huka and their Vancouver partners, Paul Mercs Concerts, haven’t set an exact date for when general ticket sales will begin, but that it will be before the end of October.

The limited number of now sold-out founders’ passes featured perks such as lifetime discounts on tickets for subsequent years that the festival runs.

Tickets made available in the coming weeks will mark the first round of “early-bird” sales. They’ll cost more than the founders’ passes but less than tickets sold in later releases.

The event is going to run with a maximum capacity of 40,000 people and include space for 25,000 to camp on-site.

At the festival’s launch party in Pemberton earlier this week, Niland told the Straight that people should expect big-name headliners on par with those that appeared at the 2008 festival that was held at the same location. Those names included Jay Z, Coldplay, and Tom Petty, giving the 2014 team a lot to live up to.

“Expect a world-class lineup,” Niland said.