Summer Nights Festival brings music to Riverview
The third annual outdoor Summer Nights Music Festival will be held Friday and Saturday night at the Holy Whale on Coverdale Road.
This year’s big acts include Big Sugar on Friday night and Sloan on Saturday. Several big local acts including the Motorleague, Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew, East of Sundown, the Monoxides, the Orchids, Before the Dinosaurs, Pat Gillespie Band, the Magnetic Hills and Donovan will also perform.
History of the Summer Nights Music Festival
Matt Sutherland founded the festival in 2024, after his nephew Levi was in an accident that left him a paraplegic. Sutherland needed to find a way to help contribute to the changing lifestyle the family would face.
“He felt that his best way to contribute to give back to his nephew was to put on a music festival. So it was so successful in 2024, he wanted to do it again in 2025. We both have a passion for music, and we were previously paramedic colleagues, so we came together last year, and that was another success. We came together again shortly after that to do it for 2026,” Vice-President of 73 Productions Rachel Nevers explained.
Hope is to grow festival, attract even more people to Riverview
“The only way we can really do that is getting our community to support us this weekend. The more people that come out to this music festival, the more chances we get to grow this to be larger and bring bigger bands and bring more people. I would love to outgrow Holy Whale. It’s an incredible spot, and it’ll take thousands of people for us to outgrow that, but wouldn’t that be incredible?” Nevers added.
The concerts are held on the back deck of the Chocolate River Station, and Nevers estimates around 2000 people can attend. With all of the renovations that have been done and landscaping, it has allowed them to push the stage back, which means a larger area for the crowd.
The Town has also permitted them to close down the boardwalk by the Chocolate River station for two days, which means they have full access.
“Anyone can go down and have a look; you can see that the stage is right towards the end of that property line. You have the Petitcodiac River and the sunset in the evening. It’s going to be so pretty,” Nevers said.
As mentioned previously, the festival was originally set up as a fundraiser, and Nevers says there’s always a community charity angle to the show.
“We always want to shine a light on Levi, but we also want to take into consideration the community too. We do things like 50-50 tickets, and we’ll give a portion of that to a charity. This year we are also doing a tribute to Todd Burgess. Scott Burgess, who is the manager of the Holy Whale, because his brother recently passed away. So the sum of the ticket sales portion will be given to his charity of choice, which was the Humanity Project,” Nevers explained.
Hard work and volunteers to make festival a success
A festival of this calibre takes a lot of work and volunteers. Nevers says they have about 30 individuals who are helping to make these shows a success.
She also credits Carolann Jardine as a big part of helping to pull it all together. “She is the glue that keeps Matt and me together. She has done so much with the artists and our social media with coordinating and organizing, and always does it with a smile on her face.”
For anyone who is going to the show tonight or tomorrow night, it’s recommended you consider carpooling or go on foot. Parking is limited, and there is none on site for the festival at the Chocolate River Station.
If you don’t have tickets yet, they’re still available on site or through Eventbrite.
