Lands that for three decades hosted the Havelock Country Jamboree in Havelock, Ont., went up for sale on the weekend.
The outdoor camping and county music festival attracts more than 20,000 visitors each year to the village of Havelock, east of Peterborough. The festival marked its 30th anniversary in 2019 but was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival was expected to announce a lineup in May 2022 but one never came, leading to a wide-range of complaints from fans looking for refunds on tickets purchased in 2022 and the 2020 event.
READ MORE: Fans upset as Havelock Jamboree deadline comes and goes without announcement of 2022 lineup
Multiple requests for comment from organizers Paula Chopik and Ed Leslie have not been returned including a letter sent by courier from Global News. The last update on the festival’s website stated: “We are uncertain as to what will happen for 2023 at this time and are working to figure everything out. We would like to assure you that we are aware of how important the Jamboree is and how we have become a family.”
However, on the weekend, a new realtor ad lists two parcels of land along County Road 48 “formerly used as the main grounds” of the Havelock Country Jamboree.
The combined parcels of more than 200 acres of land are listed at $4.35 million and feature “significant hydro and road infrastructure” throughout. The offer also includes a four-bedroom house, various outbuildings, and the state-of-the-art, 60-foot-by-40-foot twin stage that used to house acts for the jamboree.
The ad says the current zoning allows for a wide range of uses, including music festivals, carnivals, exhibitions, fairs, a hotel or motel, a golf range, car wash, rental storage facility, medical clinics, a motor vehicle dealerships, restaurant, entertainment venue and more.
The lands are designated “future development” in the Official Plan for Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township.
“This unique property also represents an attractive opportunity for buyers within the music and entertainment industry given the current SD 34 zoned lands allowing ‘special events’ (music festivals, fairs, exhibitions, carnivals) to operate on the lands for the long term,” states the ad from Rogers and Trainor Commercial Realty Inc., a brokerage based in Kingston, Ont.
On Monday, Township Mayor Jim Martin told Global News he had just learned of the land sale but didn’t have any further information. The jamboree for three decades has been a major economic driver each summer for businesses in Havelock.
“It’s been coming for a while,” he said of the land sale.
On a 12,000-member Facebook fan page of the jamboree, a number of people on Monday reiterated their concerns about receiving refunds from the recent concerts that were cancelled.
— more to come.
— With files from Global News’ Robert Lothian and Morganne Campbell