MasterChef Canada’s Andy Hay cooking up a performance for Sommo Festival in September

Nova Scotia chef Andy Hay is pictured. (Courtesy of Andy Hay)

Prince Edward Island’s annual Sommo Festival is set to take place Sept. 11 and 12.

Twenty One Pilots, Sombr, and Natasha Bedingfield are among some of the headliners to hit the musical stage in Cavendish.

The festival will also showcase live demonstrations by celebrity chefs on a culinary stage. Nova Scotia’s Andy Hay is set for the Sept. 11 lineup, and he says he can’t wait.

“I’ve heard so much about it. I’ve been watching from afar and been wanting to get in there and finally cracked the lineup this year, so I’m really excited it looks like an amazing energy event,” Hay told CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett.

It will be his first time headlining for the Island festival.

“It’s just very East Coast, it’s fun, there’s nothing more East Coast than music and food, it just goes together like a beautiful hug,” Hay added.

He said he thinks he’ll feel nervous leading to the performance, but “once showtime hits the energy just comes and it takes over, and it’s super fun.”

He’ll be on stage the same day as the band Twenty One Pilots, but he said he’s most excited for the lineup the next day.

“At our house we love pop. I’ve got two little girls, my wife, big pop people, so we’re big Sombr fans. Day two I’m going to be dancing pretty hard,” he said. “I’m really excited for it.”

This year, Hay also launched a Food Network Show, Andy’s East Coast Kitchen Crawl.

The aim of the show is to provide accessible, no-fuss recipes for home cooks, highlighting Maritime recipes and ingredients.

“It’s definitely a major part of who I am, I love where I’m from, I love the food here,” he said.

Hay added he feels like he’s living the dream.

“I didn’t expect all this to happen, like, my joke all along was like, I want to be a poor man’s Anthony Bourdain and have a food travel show, and that’s kind of happening so that’s really exciting,” he said.

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