The lineup started early Sunday morning for those wanting to get their hands on tickets to this summer’s Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
More than 2,000 folk music fans started lining up at RE/MAX Field at 5 a.m. The doors opened at 7 a.m. and people had to be inside the baseball field by 8 a.m. to participate in the ticket lottery for this year’s festival.
“Using the baseball stadium, it provides parking, a place to sit, communication, concessions, washrooms so it’s a good place to hold it,” festival producer Terry Wickham said. “They seem to like it. They bring their kids.
“It gives people, if they want to save the service charges, then they can come down and do that in the morning and save themselves a fair bit of money and be assured of a ticket.”
The festival has been using the lottery system to sell tickets for several years now. This is the first time the lottery was held on a Sunday because of scheduling conflicts with a baseball game on Friday night.
Fans interested in buying a ticket in person are given a card with a letter on it. The letters are then picked out of a lottery drum in a random draw.
“People are excited if they get the first group because they can buy their tickets and go home,” Wickham said.
Kevin Bates was one of those lucky music fans. He arrived at the field shortly after 6:30 a.m. and was lucky enough to be selected first in the lottery.
“First time I’ve been No. 1 for anything at the Folk Fest,” he said. “I think it’s fair. You gotta get up early but that’s the way it goes. I know people have problems with the computer system so I like coming down here and being guaranteed I’m going to get a ticket.”
Bates and his family are festival veterans; they go every year.
“Our family comes every year for the last – well, I’ve been coming since the mid-80s – my mom probably since the early 90s. So yeah, it’s a family thing so it’s great.”
Watch below: The 2017 Edmonton Folk Music Festival lineup has been released
This year’s festival runs from Aug. 10 to 13 at Gallagher Park. This year’s lineup, which was announced last week, includes Leon Bridges, City and Colour, Brandi Carlile and The Decemberists, among others.
READ MORE: 2017 Edmonton Folk Music Festival promises strong contingent of gospel and soul artists
Festival-goers will notice a few changes to the site this year, primarily when it comes to the beer tent.
“We’re making it a lot bigger because the lineups were too big,” Wickham said. “We’re really concentrating on cutting down the amount of time that people spend in lineups, either to get into the festival, to use the washroom, especially with the beer tent, to go to concessions, whatever it is. Because lineups – they’re no fun.”
Ticket sales run as late as 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. Sunday at the baseball field for the final lottery groups, then open up online. A limited number of festival passes will be sold through Ticketmaster.
“We don’t expect to sell out today. We’ll probably move a good chunk of tickets and then it sells as it goes along,” Wickham said.
For more information on this year’s festival, visit the Edmonton Folk Music Festival’s website.
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