SURREY — A two-day concert featuring "world-renowned electronic music artists" is planned for Holland Park this summer.
Up to 22,000 people are expected daily at the ticketed festival on July 3 and 4.
Last Monday (Feb. 23), Surrey city council granted event promoter Live Nation Canada a liquor license for the event, with three beverage areas planned.
Due to a business agreement, the names of the featured artists cannot be disclosed until the Vancouver-based promoter releases the information publicly, in partnership with Blueprint Events.
The festival will feature artists "who have international #1 songs across multiple formats, as well as a few up and coming pop and electronic music artists on multiple stages," according to a report before Surrey city council.
In May of 2013, Live Nation Canada produced a concert at Holland Park by folk-rock band Mumford & Sons, as a trial run for the company there. Close to 25,000 people attended the event.
At the time, Erik Hoffman, Live Nation's vice-president of talent, told the Now that Holland Park is "working out great as a venue, as these things go in the first go-around."
Hoffman said Monday (March 2) the event in July will be “a proprietary festival for Surrey, an urban downtown festival, and with the intent of bringing it back year over year. We talked about doing a property out there before and it wasn't the right fit, but now we have something we think is the right fit."
Artist and ticket information will be announced soon for what Hoffman said would be a "branded" festival.
“Given the timeline on the event, it won’t be long from now," he said. "We’re just finishing up a few things. Being that it's an inaugural event, we have to finalize some details.
"I feel a lot more confident going to market soon, because we did the Mumford event there, so there are a lot (fewer) question marks as there were last time," Hoffman added.
Holland Park was purpose-built for such "great events lawn" gatherings.
According to the report before council, the festival in July would mean the closure of the central portion of the park from June 29 to July 6.
In 2012, the report says, the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association adopted a resolution supporting the holding of ticketed concerts at Holland Park. "The BIA recently confirmed that they are very supportive of this proposed festival," says the report, from the general manager of the city's parks, recreation and culture department.