The annual Five-Acre Shaker music festival could be shaking in a far larger plot of land this summer.
Lance Goddard received conditional approval from the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District to host the summer music festival out on a 175-acre empty lot on Franklin River Road.
“We’ve locked down a new place to potentially host the Shaker this year. It’s owned by Craig Bowerman and it’s out on Franklin River Road,” said Goddard.
Goddard and Jess Towers have been the force behind the music festival that benefits the Zattzoo Project.
For the past two years, they’ve held the 500-person event at Goddard’s property in Beaver Creek.
In its first year, the Shaker was a huge success that raised money for local youth music without any complaints.
Feeding off of the success, Goddard and Towers asked the regional district for permission to up the event to 1,000 attendees.
While some on the board agreed, Beaver Creek director John McNabb raised concerns over the noise and disruption that having 1,000 people on the five-acre property for a weekend would cause.
Ultimately, the duo were denied their request to increase attendance, raising concerns about the viability of hosting the event last year.
The Five-Acre Shaker went ahead with 500 people.
This year, adhering to a promise made to the ACRD last year, Goddard is moving the festival to a larger property.
“It’s about 175 acres and 50 acres of it is cleared field. The rest is covered in trees and there’s mountains around it; it’s awesome,” said Goddard.
“It’s definitely a forever home if we can get approval of this.”
The only holdup is that Bowerman’s lot is in the agricultural land reserve.
“It’s in the ALR so we have to apply for a non-farm use application to the [agricultural land commission],” said Goddard. The regional district’s approval allows Goddard to take it to the ALC.
“It’s a bit of a waiting game to get the approval from them and then if we get that we’ll be back to the [ACRD’s] temporary use permit like last year.”
reporter@albernivalleynews.com
facebook.com/albernivalleynews