SERF's time may be up at Nexen Beach and after five years, the local outdoor music festival will not return to the oceanfront for 2012.
But that doesn't mean the Squamish Equinox Rock Festival (SERF) is going away. Organizers Paul Hudson and Karin Shard plan to keep SERF alive with a series of indoor concert events spread throughout the year.
"What we did as a fundraiser this year is put on a few gigs and they were a huge success," Hudson said. "We're just not getting the turnout we used to get for the outdoor concert and we're going to be shifting gears for a year and see how it goes."
Hudson said that the current business plan for SERF simply wasn't feasible.
"After five years, the financial structure wasn't working so we decided to look at something that does work," he said, noting the group may restructure to a not-for-profit group in order to qualify for funding. "Something that does work really well is the indoor concert series and we're excited to be working with the Howe Sound Brew Pub on it."
Shard pointed to the economy as a major reason SERF has struggled in recent years.
"I would say that what affected us the most was definitely the economy," she said. "I also think that we compete against a lot of other things that are free. Living in the corridor, some of the people that are attracted to coming to SERF could also go see free concerts in Whistler almost every weekend."
She also pointed out that the competition between events in the summer in Squamish can be intense.
"We were up against the St. Jean Baptiste Day the night before and the Sikh Festival the day of," she said. "Again, with the economy, people might have thought, 'Should I go to the Sikh Festival or SERF?' The Sikh Festival was fantastic, it was free and there was free food. It's great that there's lots going on in Squamish but it can be hard to compete."
She said the goal is to return to an outdoor festival but with the potential development of the Oceanfront, all bets are off in the short term.
"Basically next year was in jeopardy anyways because we don't even know if the land will be finished developing by June," she said, noting that plans include some sort of amphitheatre on the site. "If we can't make it work out there, we have a few other locations we're looking at."
Shard said the group needs to build on the indoor concerts, which she hopes will attract many of the same people who enjoyed SERF. The series will kick off when Jon and Roy perform at the Howe Sound Brew Pub on Oct. 15. For more information on SERF, visit www.squamishmusicfestival.com.
