Annual YQM concert leaves lasting impact in New Brunswick

Economic impact of N.B. music festival Businesses felt a ripple effect from the YQM Country Festival in Dieppe, N.B., over the weekend.

The streets of Dieppe are quiet on Monday in the aftermath of the YQM country fest. The music festival rocked the New Brunswick city for three days before wrapping up Sunday evening.

After the thousands of country music fans were gone, all that was left at the MusiquArt Site in Dieppe were clean-up crews.

The excitement is over but YQM’s mark will be felt long after the sign is taken down.

“We did an economic impact last year to see what the ripple effect was and how they affected local businesses, so we had an economic impact number of about $14M in the southeast region including Dieppe. So obviously restaurants were full over the weekend. Hotels were full. Gas stations were full. So obviously it’s a big spinoff for us,” said Community Development Director, Denis LeBlanc.

Leblanc says economic impact studies are done about every five years, so there won’t be specific numbers following 2024, but he expects the impact of YQM to be bigger after seeing higher attendance this year. He says about 18,000-20,000 people went through the gates on both Thursday and Friday. Saturday drew in the biggest crowd with about 25,000 people coming to the show.

“It’s definitely a festival that we want to try and keep in Dieppe and try to look at the long-term with them,” said LeBlanc.

“It’s been beneficial up until now and we’re quite happy with it.”

Destination Moncton Dieppe CEO, Jillian Somers says the impact is felt outside the city limits too.

“[We have] lots of reasons to visit, but events and activities and festivals is another great reason for that, so when you attract topnotch talent like YQM has for a number of years now, it allows people to enjoy a great concert, but also see our part of the world,” Somers said.

“I have had a number of hoteliers say to me that as soon as YQM is over one year, they already have a good solid amount of bookings for next year because people know when it’s coming and they can plan for it.”

2024 marks the third year that YQM has come to Dieppe and it’s already become an important event for the local economy.

“Especially towards the end of August, when people are sort of doing that dreadful transition to fall, it’s great to be able to have a reason to visit here and why it’s so important that an event like this is reoccurring and annual,” said Somers.

LeBlanc said it takes the entire community to make YQM a success for the city. There were measures in place to ensure that music ended by 11 p.m. for nearby residents. A lot of security and road closures helped things run smooth.

“We had a good medical team on site, so we had firemen on site, first aid was on site, a medical team with a doctor was on site,” Leblanc said.

“Everything was mostly handled on site so we didn’t put any pressure on local hospitals or local health services so that was quite impressive as well.”

Officials with YQM says plans are already underway for 2025.

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