A quick guide to packing, planning, and making the most of your Harvest Music Festival experience.
Matt Carter
The anticipation is palpable. With another Harvest Music Festival just a few weeks away, the excitement for all Harvest brings to the community can already be felt. In fact, it is radiating throughout the city and has been for some time.
A few weeks ago while running errands downtown, I walked into Westminster Bookmark and was greeted, not with your typical welcome-to-the-shop refrain, but with a very enthusiastic, “the new Harvest schedules are here!”. I smiled, laughed, and said something along the lines of, “Well, I can tell someone’s excited.” When I left the bookstore I crossed the street to my favourite coffee shop, Urban Almanac’s Good People Coffee Roasters, and received a similar salutation. “We’ve got the new Harvest schedules,” was the first thing I heard when I opened the door. Of course, I took one with me. I thought about taking two. Shortly afterwards, I met up with my wife for lunch and guess what she pulled out of her purse.
This entire experience stuck with me long enough that I eventually found myself writing about it. And now you, probably just as excited about Fredericton’s largest annual festival as I am, are reading a story about someone sharing his experience witnessing other people’s excitement about Harvest. No, this is not some David Lynch film and you are not on Candid Camera. This is just August in Fredericton.
While getting excited to see Colin James, Victor Wooten, Spoon, Jason Isbell, Broken Social Scene, Feist, and so many others perform in our city over five days in September is almost as fun as the performances will surely be, the rush of it all can cause us to overlook a few important points that can help make the whole experience that much more satisfying for ourselves and those around us.
In hopes of helping you make the most of your Harvest, here are five lessons I have learned over my 30+ years of Harvesting.
Grab a Schedule
As I have already pointed out, this year’s festival schedules are out and have been distributed across the city. Grab one, fold it up, and stick it in your pocket, your bag, you purse, or whatever it is you may carry. While there are other ways to plan your festival adventures (we’ll get there), a paper schedule is perfect for scribbling notes, circling the shows you don’t want to miss, and making new discoveries. In my experience, no matter how much I stare at a screen trying to make the most of my time during Harvest, I always seem to overlook a show, only to discover it later on the day. And don’t worry about walking around looking like a 17th century explorer holding out their crudely drawn map trying to find True North, everyone will understand.
Download the Official Harvest Music Festival App
I know, I know. No one wants another icon busying up the home screen of their mobile device. But trust me. Having an entire festival’s worth of information at your fingertips will prove essential at some point in your week. While you can’t scribble on it like you can a paper schedule, the app takes you far deeper into the festival experience. You can search artists, set reminders, find food and water, buy tickets, and get important notifications in real time. Plus, and this might be the biggest perk, your phone is backlit. If you have ever tried reading a paper schedule in the dark, you already understand this small but important benefit.
Wear Earplugs
Music is loud. And believe it or not, the environment inside festival tents can be even louder. Reconnecting with friends is a big part of the Harvest experience for many of us. But when you have to yell into someone’s ear to be heard, and vice versa, your ears will take a serious beating over the week. My preferred approach is to save conversations until after a band has finished. Not only does this help your hearing, it also helps improve the performance for everyone around you.
Eat, Drink and Sleep
One of my biggest Harvest regrets (that’s not to say I have many), is that I never remember to budget some vacation time for the festival. Translation = consecutive late nights and early mornings are not the best of buds. Make sure to get your rest and drink lots of water while you are moving around from place to place. And eat. Don’t forget to eat. I don’t feel one bit ashamed reminding adults to eat, drink and sleep. These three steps are probably the most important to remember outside of purchasing your tickets, and the best way to ward off the dreaded Harvest Flu which can knock you out of commission for the entire post-festival week if you are not careful. I speak from experience.
Have Fun
My final piece of advice might seem like a no-brainer. Having fun at a music festival you have been looking forward to all year doesn’t take a whole lot of work. Simply being downtown during Harvest is fun, ticket or no ticket. Accessibility is a big part of each Harvest Music Festival and walking the downtown streets taking in all the free performances is a great way to appreciate the gift Harvest is to us all. Just remember, while you are enjoying your evening and all the wonderful experiences that come with a night out, the person standing next to you is also hoping for the same experience. Best respectful. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Remember, we are in this together as music fans, festival patrons, and community members. Harvest belongs to all of us, equally.
Happy Harvest!
