Cavendish Beach wins national award for best country music festival

Despite the rain, fans flocked to the Cavendish Beach Music Festival to watch Carrie Underwood perform.on Saturday, July 6, 2019.

CHARLOTTETOWN -- For the second year in a row, an event in small-town P.E.I. has won a national award for staging Canada's best country music festival.

The Canadian Country Music Association has chosen the Cavendish Beach Music Festival as 2019's best country festival, fair or exhibition, over a number of well-known events including the Calgary Stampede.

Other nominees for the prize were the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alta., the Boots And Hearts Music Festival in Oro-Medonte, Ont., and the Havelock Country Jamboree in Havelock, Ont.

The annual award is voted on by members of the country music industry from across Canada.

Festival organizers in Cavendish say 75 per cent of those who attended this year's event in July came from outside the province.

They say the event generated about $10 million in visitor spending and $1.2 million in wages.

"It's not a small feat to be recognized by industry as the country festival of the year with so many amazing events happening around our country," said Jeff Squires, CEO of Whitecap Entertainment, the organization behind the festival.

Editor's note: The Cavendish Beach Music Festival was sponsored by Bell, which owns CTV.