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OH!No music fest organizers take a DIY approach to funding

Two-day punk rock and indie music festival takes place in Leeburn September 6-7

OH!No music festival founder Jamie Vincent and Brenton George Ellis of local instrumental surf band Dynowaves were hard at work washing cars at the Trunk Road Esso Saturday, raising funds for OH!No ‘19. 

While Vincent says that the music festival is close to attaining its financial goal, it’s never easy building a weekend-long event from the ground up. 

“We have a lot of bands to pay, food to make,” said Vincent, on break from his car wash fundraiser. “It’s an expensive festival, really, and we didn’t get any grants or anything.”

“The venue got a grant to hold the festival there, but everything is just coming from nothing really.”

More than 20 bands will take the stage during the two-day festival, scheduled for Sept. 6-7 in Leeburn. 

The venue is actually a repurposed church owned by Robbie Adamson. Vincent says the venue has all the necessities in order to make a show of this magnitude happen – a stage, complete with lighting and a sound system, and property behind the venue that allows for overnight camping during the course of that weekend. 

“It’s the only punk rock festival within the area,” said Vincent. “It’s not all punk bands though, we have some indie bands, some hip-hop.”

“To me, it’s kind of all punk – the DIY (do it yourself) culture.”

So far, Vincent has organized a number of fundraisers in order to make this event happen once again, everything from car washes to dance parties.

Although the venue has not been confirmed, the final fundraising event for OH!No will be a ‘new wave dance party’ that’s scheduled for Sept. 1. 

“What’s really cool is that people want this festival to happen, so they’re the people that come and donate and help fundraise,” said Vincent. “The way I like to look at it is, this festival belongs to everyone in the community that wants to be a part of it.”

“It’s not just our festival – everyone really comes together.”

Tickets for the two-day music festival are $40, and can be purchased at The Rad Zone, Case’s Music and Dryer Fire. 

More information on this year’s OH!No festival can be found on the event’s Facebook page.


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James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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