The only sappiness felt last weekend was when it was all over. Finishing off its fifth consecutive year running Sappyfest ended July with a bang last weekend. The ever-growing indie festival went off without a hitch and brought hundreds of people into Sackville.
The organizing staff were still coming down from a Sappyfest high on Wednesday when the Tribune sat down with Joni Fleck-Andrews at Thunder and Lightening Ltd to reflect on the weekend. Joni speculates that over 1,000 tickets were sold, which made for an extremely busy weekend but Joni said, the volunteers worked really hard and did an incredible job, going above and beyond their jobs. “Everything went really smoothly, there were no major bumps in the road.”
The atmosphere downtown was happy and friendly; everyone was in high spirits and on their best behaviour and the reception was excellent from festival goers and musicians alike.
“Everyone was really pleased,” Joni said.
The addition of the Legion, Civic Centre and Gazebo as venues turned out to be very successful and the main stage tent created an enjoyable environment in the heart of downtown.
Mayor Pat Estabrooks had nothing but positive comments about the weekend at Monday’s New Brunswick Day Festivities and was quick to say how impressed she was with the festival over the phone on Tuesday.
“I thought it was excellent and well done,” she said.
Mayor Estabrooks was also excited about the amount of people the festival brought to the town
“There was a massive amount of people downtown, more than I’ve seen in a long time.”
The influx of people to Sackville not only bolstered the local indie scene but was also a great opportunity for Sackville businesses, especially in the downtown area.
A newer addition to Bridge Street, Pickles Deli definitely saw a change in their customer base. Owner Gabi Hunter was surprised to see that 80-90 per cent of her patrons over the weekend were people she did not recognize.
“The people who came in were not our regulars,” she said.
Gabi and her husband David had a prime location to take in all the action, and she said it was great to see the street so lively.
“It was really an awesome time, all these people were here but it was very calm and happy.”
The deli offered several original Sappy creations exclusively for the festival as well as more vegan and vegetarian options that were very popular with the young crowd. David had a hot dog stand set up on Bridge St. throughout the weekend as well and was excited about how busy he was. The farmers market also saw huge crowds on Saturday morning and David pointed out that a lot of people – more than just music fans – benefited from the festival.
