The organizers of a controversial beer and live music festival in Port Moody are confident their brand is strong enough to return in 2024 after they recently announced the postponement of this year’s event.
Lies Reimer, of Langley-based Red Door Events said ongoing questions about the appropriateness of Brewhalla taking place in Pioneer Memorial Park in August had nothing to do with its decision, that the company announced on its website and social media pages.
Instead, the Red Door is focusing its energy on its other Brewhalla festivals to be held in Langley and Chilliwack in the fall, as well as a collaboration with a new beer festival in Whistler in September.
The company has already staged two events this year: at The Shipyards in North Vancouver on April 14 and in Fort Langley on May 20.
Reimer said anyone with tickets to the Port Moody event will be refunded, but, she added, as it hadn’t been publicly marketed yet, the number is “minimal.”
Reimer said Red Door is having “ongoing discussions” to determine a suitable venue for the Brewhalla’s return next year.
The company staged Port Moody’s inaugural Brewhalla at Inlet Park in August 2022, after a furor erupted over initial plans to hold it at Pioneer Memorial Park.
Members of the community and even the city’s parks and recreation commission questioned the appropriateness of the green, wooded space on Knowles Street, between the recreation complex and Ioco Road.
They expressed concerns about the festival’s impact on the park’s tree canopy as well as its proximity to the nearby Crossroads hospice centre.
One of the main features of the park is a healing garden where visitors with family or friends at the hospice can reflect and find solace on one of many benches.
In 2021, a Phone of the Wind was also installed to give people an opportunity to have “conversations” with loved ones who’ve passed on.
Despite assurances from Red Door’s Hannah Brown that organizers had the blessing of Crossroads and alcohol wouldn’t be served in the healing garden area, the company decided to move the event to the gravel sports field at Inlet Park.
“It is very important to the organizers that they make a good first impression,” Port Moody’s manager of cultural services, Devin Jain, told council.
But with Inlet Park currently a construction site for the installation of new turf sports field, council decided last March to grant Red Door a one-year trial use of Pioneer Memorial Park for this year’s Brewhalla festival, with the company paying the city a rental fee of $1 from each ticket sold.
“I’d like to see us try it and see how it goes,” said Mayor Meghan Lahti.
Jain said as Inlet Park is no longer an option, and Rocky Point Park already busy with festivals and concerts on most summer weekends, the city is struggling to find appropriate venues for outdoor events.
He said the empty lot at the corner of Ioco Road and Murray Street where Port Moody’s old firehall used to be located lacks shade and will eventually be developed anyway. Ioco Field, near the historic Ioco townsite, is remote and not well-served by transit and other parks are located in residential areas or lack services like electricity.
Jain also said paved sites like the boat launch parking area at Rocky Point or the parking lot at the recreation complex would inconvenience other users.
SOUND OFF: Where do you think might be appropriate places in Port Moody to hold events like beer festivals? Is it time for the city to have a venue space? Send us a Letter to the Editor. Be sure to include your full name and city of residence.
