The future of B.C.'s newest and biggest music festival is on the line at this week's series of B.C. Agricultural Land Commission meetings.
The commission is worried about using 300 acres of prime farm land at the base of Mount Currie as the site for the second annual Pemberton Festival in 2009. The commission will decide if concert promoters, Live Nation, can use the site again.
Paul Selina, the president of the Pemberton and District chamber of commerce, says the festival is a huge boost to the local economy, and they've proven there is no damage to the land.
"We've got support from both our local agricultural advisory committee and the province," says Selina. "We have done an individual assessment with soil assessment and found nothing wrong."
Selina says the only time the festival site is not in agricultural production is for five weeks surrounding the festival, and is put back into good working order for the rest of the year.
More than 40,000 music fans descended on the tiny town of Pemberton this July for a four day festival featuring rapper Jay-Z and British super-group Coldplay.
The festival injected more than $10 million into Pemberton's local economy, and an estimated $35 million into the province.
"It's huge not only for the local economy and also gave our agricultural community a full boost," says Selina.
The local chamber of commerce is working with Live Nation towards having a fully sustainable festival, feeding all 40,000 visitors with local produce.
Organizers of the 2009 festival worried the event might be bumped from this week's ALC meeting, possibly jeopardizing arrangements for next summer's line-up.
