This year the backyard is back with a newly renovated staircase serving as the fire exit leading to Cavan Street. (Luis Zablah/ CHLY 101.7 FM)

With summer right around the corner, the annual Nanaimo music festival is back with a fresh new paintjob after adapting to challenges faced in 2024.

Local analogue audio and record store, Sound Heritage has hosted the annual music festival since 2017, first known as Festival Lemieux. The festival started as a celebration to remember Anton Lemieux, a local musician who passed away from opioid poisoning. One year later, the then owner of Sound Heritage and father of Lemieux opted to change the name of the event to Backyard Fest.

The festival aims to highlight underground and emerging local artists bringing them to the spotlight and giving them the opportunity to show off their talents to the public. Returning to its typical schedule, the event will be held during this month’s long weekend from May 15 to 17, featuring up to 60 performers and three DJs including artists such as Elise Boulanger, Aster Dawn and Anti-Nothing.

CHLY spoke with Sound Heritage owner Nathan Randall (pictured left), as he gears up to host once more. (Luis Zablah/ CHLY 101.7 FM)

Back in 2024, the festival was almost postponed after the City of Nanaimo considered the venue unsafe due to its lack of a proper fire exit. The venue had a single entrance and exit making it dangerous in case a fire broke out. The festival was allowed to continue on the Backyard as planned, however, organizers were told that upgrades would be necessary for the coming years.

The CHLY spoke with Kristjanne Vosper, a volunteer media liaison speaking on behalf of the event and the new non-profit organization advocating for the arts in Nanaimo.

“ Last year we couldn't get the permits to have it there, because it was deemed unsafe because there weren't, two fire exits. So, they turned on a dime, and just turned this. Turned kind of something that could have been the end of the festival into an amazing opportunity,” Vosper said.

Needing to pivot to a new venue for 2025, organizers Jac Proctor and Brendan Holm teamed up with the community to keep the party going, creating a substitute festival named Sunk City. This new iteration of the celebration expanded the party to multiple venues around downtown, adding locations like The Queen’s, The Vault Cafe, and UNIT.

Sunk City was first designed to keep Nanaimo's underground arts and music scene alive just while The Backyard’s renovations were completed in the meantime. Nevertheless, the festival has grown far beyond a temporary fix. Sunk City has quickly grown into a staple event in downtown Nanaimo.

The event led to the creation of the non-profit organization, known as The Sunk City Arts Society which aims to promote the arts and use public spaces for local artists to show their talents.

“Okay Sunk City is so awesome. They have over 50 performers, and half of them at least are local, from Nanaimo,” Vosper said. It's like a beautiful way to experience downtown Nanaimo and to experience, a vibrant underground music community that exists in, based in downtown Nanaimo.

This year the backyard is back with a newly renovated staircase serving as the fire exit leading to Cavan Street. With a fresh coat of paint and an improved stage for performers.

The early celebration featured the official reveal of the brand new The Backyard sign (Luis Zablah/CHLY 101.7 FM)

“ Well, the staircase looks great. Pete Junker and his team at Junker Custom Building built the staircase, and as is all their work, it's beautiful and kinda rustic looking,” Vosper said.

CHLY spoke with Sound Heritage owner Nathan Randall, as he gears up to host once more. During the weekend, Randall opened The Backyard’s door a week early with an open house and silent auction to raise money for the project and continue funding improvements and renovations.

The early celebration featured the official reveal of the brand new The Backyard sign, a merch shop, live performances from the local musicians, tours of the grounds and beverages to liven the scene. The event operated as a showcase of the venue's progress on its improvements and renovations, giving audiences a chance to get excited before the festival began.

“ So we are very excited to be sort of launching The Backyard as a venue and event space this Saturday with an open house and silent auction fundraising event,” Randall said.

The open house and fundraiser has something different planned with a silent auction, allowing anyone to financially support the renovations through bidding for featured items, donated from Randall’s friends, community members and even items directly from Sound Heritage.

“So, we will have several tables laid out in the back with various items that people can bid on. So there will be little pieces of paper beside each item where you can write your name and the amount that you would like to bid on that item for,” Randall said. “All of the revenue from the items that we sell will go towards the outstanding cost and, future improvement costs for The Backyard.”

CHLY spoke with returning performer Elise Boulanger about the festival’s return.

New staircase unveiled at the open house. (Luis Zablah/CHLY 101.7 FM)

“ I'm so glad that this festival has continued in all of its various, formations. I love that it feels so local, but all of the people who have helped be a part of it are also super qualified, and they've always been supporters of the local music and art scene,” Boulanger said. “So it's run by a really solid crew, and they also bring in such a different diversity that Nanaimo and Snuneymuxw don't often get to see, I would say.”

As a three year veteran of The Backyard Fest, Boulanger plans to expand her performance this year to make it more interactive and collaborative.

“ My set for Sunk City Music Festival this year is quite different. I'm trying to just chill out, do a more like DIY approach and bring both attendees of the festival and other festival performers in the mix. So I've done a call out to both attendees and other festival musicians to join our set,” Boulanger said. “So I'm going to be providing some learning resources for a few of my songs, like sheet music or just like lyrics with pop chords. We can create these new sounds together and it'll be spontaneous but extra beautiful at the same time.”

Sunk City will be held through May 15 to 17, across many venues around downtown including The Backyard, The Queen’s, The Vault Cafe and UNIT. More information is available on the official Sunk City website.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.