Mussel Bed Soiree surpasses Salmon Fest in ticket sales
For the first time in its history, the Mussel Bed Soiree in Lewisporte is sold out with 6,500 people set to attend.
The central Newfoundland town has held the music festival for the past 29 years, but organizers say they have never seen ticket sales like this before.
"We're overwhelmed by ticket sales. Right now we're sold out," said Derek Bennett, Lewisporte's director of tourism and recreation.
Bennett said crowds are expected to be so big that they have had to build a new parking lot.
The festival isn't as widely known as other Newfoundland music festivals, and it rarely brings in the same big-name headliners.
However, this year more tickets have been sold for the Mussel Bed Soiree than were attendees at Grand Falls-Windsor's Salmon Festival concert.
The Salmon Fest concert promoter said about 6,200 people came to that festival, although concert-goers estimate much lower numbers.
Bennett partially attributes the unusual success to their Christmas ticket sale where more than 2,000 people bought festival tickets at a discount price of $50.
"With that early bird special that we've done, it got hype around the province. People started talking about the festival," he said.
This year's Mussel Bed Soiree features performances by Johnny Reid, Tom Hicks, The Trews, Honeymoon Suite, and local band Shanneyganock.
It takes place from Aug. 5 to 10.
