Ottawa Valley STOMP Music Festival kicks off Friday

The first-ever Ottawa Valley Stomp Festival is kicking off in Petawawa, with a full lineup of Canadian artists. CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports.

The Ottawa Valley has a brand-new music festival to take in this Canada Day long week.

Friday marks the first night of the new Ottawa Valley STOMP Music Festival being hosted in Petawawa.

The three-day festival at the Petawawa Civic Centre features two headlining bands that are bringing the 80’s back, The Box and Honeymoon Suite.

“Our crowd, the demographic is 80’s, and you can’t really go out and get your fix of the 80’s,” said organizer and STOMP’s chief technical officer Jim Dent.

“So this this is your chance to come on out and have fun with us. This is a great music, we’ve got The Box, we’ve got Honeymoon Suite, that’s as 80’s as it gets.”

The weekend festival is a combination of many family activities, including a lumberjack competition on Saturday, a buttertart festival, an array of food festival trucks, a touch-a-truck event for kids and more.

Dent says the all-Canadian festival brings together different aspects of the Ottawa Valley.

“We’ve never done this before in our hometown, so we thought that we’d bring it here. Everyone’s after us to bring it here, and they want to see it. They don’t want to have to drive to Ottawa to see a show.”

Speaking with CTV News ahead of their set Friday night, lead singer for Montreal-based band The Box, Jean-Marc Pisapia, says they are getting asked to play many new summer music festivals each year, and enjoy the crowds small towns create.

“Actually, they are a lot more enthusiast than the big city, blasé kind of attitude, where you really need something hip, otherwise it’s not going to work,” says Pisapia. “Here, people, they just love it.”

Due to the weekend’s rainy forecast, Dent says the festival had to move its stage inside the Petawawa Civic Centre, but in doing so, allows bands to play longer since they do not have to abide by the outdoor noise bylaw.

Pisapia says The Box will make it up to fans by playing a longer set.

“In the first half of the show, we’re going to do some more recent material. And in the second half, all the old hits for the 80’s. So if someone’s wondering, is it like if I go see the Police and they don’t play Roxanne, no, we do all our old hits from the 80s.”

With the live music moving indoors, it does put a cap on tickets, which Dent says is roughly 1300. He says as of Friday afternoon, the festival had sold about 1000 tickets.

“So if you haven’t got tickets, you better get them, because we have a capacity here in this building and we’re very close to that now.”

If successful, Dent says the plan is to host the Ottawa Valley STOMP Music Festival annually, moving it around to different host communities in the region.

Petawawa Mayor Gary Serviss says the town has no projections for the economic impact the festival will bring, but hotels in the area are fully booked.

“I’m hoping that it’s more than just a Petawawa celebration, that it’s a Renfrew County, Upper Ottawa Valley celebration,” he says.

“That we attract everybody from all around to come to Petawawa and enjoy all that we have to offer this weekend.”

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