Lakefest is a well-kept secret

When Bijou Bürden and Kayla Stevens began planning Lakefest, a one-day outdoor music festival happening August 6, they were chasing a particular feeling. It was a feeling Bürden still vividly remembers, one that hit when their former band, the Saffrons, had a jam session two years ago on Lawrencetown beach. “I mean, the sun and the water, being so near the ocean. It just feels good. I dunno how to describe it, it just feels really good to be outside,” Bürden recalls by phone. The few indescribable, song-and-sunshine doused hours left such an impression on the pair that they knew it was an experience they wanted to share with others. After lots of discussion and many half-plans, the duo finally fell on a way to make it happen: Their very own outdoor music festival, with a secret twist.

At first blush, Lakefest feels like a small-scale reiteration of every other festival: An outdoor show that’s full of smaller bands you don’t really know, but your cool friends talk about a lot. And while that’s technically true (it is outside, and buzzy local acts like No Problem and Stevens’ Vulva Culture are on the bill) there’s more to it than that.

The roster, which features what Bürden describes as everything from “garage-y to lazy bands” and the Lakefest Facebook page defines as “ perfect popsicle rock in the sun” features an almost-exclusively local lineup (like the acts mentioned above and Bürden’s band, Faw Haja). 

And, that lineup isn’t playing just anywhere. As the festival name hints, the concert happens at a lake. But, the exact location is a tightly-guarded secret, only to be revealed the morning of the show. Ticket buyers receive an email address with their $10 stub, and by messaging it, they will receive a digital map divulging directions to the lake.

“This lake is really special to me. I almost wish it wasn’t a secret so I could tell people more about it,” Bürden says. “When I first moved here [from Ontario] it was to be with my Grandma, who’s a really special lady. I’d walk my dog down near this lake and I just loved it.”

Bürden adds that most of the musicians on the bill have an element of psychedelia in their sound, and that the outdoors and psychedelic music are, to her, deeply linked. “The classic kind of hippie, let’s-sit-out-in-the-grass kind of imagery from old photographs: That natural part seems like an important part of psychedelic music,” she says, adding that while she doesn’t count Pink Floyd as a musical influence, their outdoor desert concert DVD was “the first of that sort of thing I’ve ever seen,” and soon became part of her Lakefest vision. She feels that playing her favourite songs in her favourite natural haven will be an almost-otherworldly experience for both her and the audience alike.

Along with those sunny, psychedelic vibes, Lakefest was a chance for Bürden and Stevens to challenge the unwritten rules of festival and concert culture. Lakefest participants are warned on the event’s Facebook page that there is a decorum in place, meaning, as Bürden puts it, fest-goers have to “respect the lake and each other.”

Since moving to Halifax, Bürden became involved in the punk music scene at the local music venue Radstorm, where she says her eyes were opened to a lot of issues surrounding how women and minorities are marginalized within music, particularly at concerts: “I’ve learned a lot from going to Radstorm, like how important the movement is for safer spaces is. And, I’ve seen conversations on Facebook where people are talking about things that happened to them at shows with discrimination and homophobia. And when you have that experience, you have a lasting problem every time you go to a show. It leaves you like ‘Oh my god, am I gonna be harassed or threatened in some way?’ and so that was a very important issue for us.” Lakefest, she adds, is her chance to change that, offering a “chill space” where anyone who feels unsafe will be able to approach event co-ordinators in yellow bandanas for help. 

Echoing this, the Lakefest decorum reads: “Babies are welcome, everyone is welcome. This is an inclusive event.” And Bürden is trying her best to make sure all those at Lakefest feel at home, something she hasn’t always felt before taking the stage: “I’ll sometimes be setting up to play a show and I’ll have questions about somebody’s gear, and they’ll be like ‘oh it’s ok if it’s over your head’. It’s like, ‘so, should I not be here because I didn’t understand how your amp works?’” And while she knows one female-run concert won’t end festival culture’s sexism overnight, it’s a step in the direction Radstorm has pointed her towards.

“Basically we just want everyone to have an awesome time and enjoy the sun,” she says, “you know what I mean?” Though it’s been awhile since her first outdoor jam session, Bürden seems to finally have caught that feeling again, and this time she’s sharing it on a particularly sentimental shore.

PS: Here’s a cool video from Vulva Culture, one of the fest’s headliners

This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2016.