(This article is sponsored by the Ambleside Music Festival.)

Very few communities have become world-famous by hosting star-studded multiday rock and pop music festivals. There’s Coachella in Indio, California. Another example is Glastonbury in Pilton, England.

Quinn Allen, festival producer of the Ambleside Music Festival, is hoping to do the same for West Vancouver. This three-day extravaganza will take place at gorgeous Ambleside Park from August 12 to 14, offering a musical smorgasbord for festivalgoers from across the region and beyond.

For the Ambleside Music Festival’s maiden voyage in 2022, the headliners are platinum-selling California punk legends the Offspring and beloved Canadian bands Mother Mother, Marianas Trench, and Walk off the Earth.

“I’m beyond excited,” Allen says. “The city and its people have missed live music, and the only thing better than a live show is an outdoor festival in a beautiful location with your friends!”

His goal is for the Ambleside Music Festival to fill this void for years to come by creating an incredible experience for Lower Mainland music lovers. Ambleside Park overlooks Burrard Inlet, providing a picturesque view of Stanley Park from a distance.

“I was very much behind the lineup,” Allen explains. “We wanted to get acts that were both Canadian and local but also have some flair from abroad.

“Most importantly, we searched for great live acts that know how to command a stage and really play live—from the smaller acts like Aiden Ayers, the Blue Stones, and Tim Atlas to the headliners like the Offspring and Mother Mother,” he continues. “Each act definitely knows how to rock a crowd.”

He has programmed every slot of the Ambleside Music Festival with the intention of providing sensational music to ticket holders.

“We really wanted the people to get the most bang for their buck, so we tried to stack the lineup as best as possible,” the festival producer says.

To accomplish this, he’s invited Charlotte Cardin, Grandson, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Jon and Roy, Ria Mae, Tokyo Police Club, Hannah Georgas, and Little Destroyer, among others, to perform on-stage.

Allen acknowledges that the pandemic has been tough on the events industry.

“First and foremost, we had a late start,” he says. “Festivals require time to sink into the general public’s awareness, and we were not fortunate enough to allow for that this year. Then there is the fact that so many artists have dates that they have to make up from before the pandemic, which made booking tricky.”

He checked out some online festivals over the past couple of years, noting that they could not generate the same feeling as a live music festival with friends or family attending in-person.

“You just can’t re-create the energy of being at a festival,” Allen adds. “While virtual attendance will no doubt be a component of festivals for years to come, I don’t think virtual reality will replace the real thing anytime soon, at least not for me.”