Ken Wallis Chats With Gabor Szepesi And Yvette Gauthier Of The Stoneridge Wasaga Beach Blues Festival

Are you ready for some Blues?  Well, if you are, The Stoneridge Wasaga Beach Blues Festival is just around the corner.  The festival is an international, award-winning music event that runs for three days with a solid lineup of musicians performing.  Set in picturesque Wasaga Beach, the festival provides a great weekend for music lovers. 

Ken Wallis interviewed Gabor Szepesi and Yvette Gauthier for the radio show BluesSource Canada.  The following are excerpts from that interview, edited and amended for brevity and clarity.

Ken Wallis

The Stonebridge Wasaga Beach Blues Festival is happening September 13th through the 15th and joining us are two of the organizers of the festival. First up, we have Gabor Szepesi,  the Artistic Director. Thanks for coming on the show, Gabor.

Gabor Szepesi 

Thanks for having us.

Ken Wallis

Plus, we have Yvette Gauthier, who is responsible for the marketing of the festival. Thanks for coming on the show, Yvette.

Yvette Gauthier

Happy to be here.

Ken Wallis

I've been to the festival once before and I'm coming this year for darn sure because it sounds like it's going to be a great festival  How long has this festival been running?

Gabor Szepesi 

This is our 12th anniversary.

Ken Wallis

And Gabor what is your specific role with the festival?

Gabor Szepesi 

Well, originally, I was just in charge of production. I did that for a couple of years when Wayne Buttery was artistic director and then when Wayne passed, I took over as Artistic Director as well.

Ken Wallis

So you deal with the artists mainly then?

Gabor Szepesi 

Yes, I deal directly with the artists and also with the production company.

Ken Wallis

And Yvette, how many stages are there?

Yvette Gauthier

We have two stages that are running.

Ken Wallis

And I know in previous years they were side by side. Is that still the case?  And it's great because if you get seated there, one band ends on one stage and the next band starts on the next stage, which I think is absolutely terrific.

Gabor Szepesi 

Yeah, that's how it works in theory. Sometimes there's a hiccup. Yeah, we try to keep it as smooth as possible.

Ken Wallis

So how many bands are there going to be performing?

Gabor Szepesi 

10 bands over three days. So we feel we're covering all kinds of different genres, but like always, mainly it's a Blues Festival, because people love the Blues. But I like to sprinkle in some diffferent stuff.  And last year we had a reggae band, which people loved, but I don't have one this year. Next year, I'm definitely going to have another swamp band as well.

Ken Wallis

So you give us some of the highlights of some of the artists that are going to be there

Gabor Szepesi 

well, we've got the Smoke Wagon Blues Band.  We've got Sandra Bouza, Steve Mariner, Erin McCallum, Voodoo Pawn Shop.  We've got Murray Kinsley and Wicked Grin. We've got John Finley, a fantastic relic of the industry. I love him.  We’ve got the Soul Motivators, Fog Blues And Brass Band, Paul Reddick. Queen Pepper, Jeff Rogers, Garnet a Cromwell and daGroovmasters, and LMT Connection is our headliner on the Sunday.

Ken Wallis

Wow, what a lineup that is. Yvette, what is the cost to attend the festival?

Yvette Gauthier

So we have a couple of options.  We have daily costs. They're $15 if you buy them in advance. So you can go to wasagabeachblues.com to buy tickets in advance. And we really encourage that.  But we also have other options. We have a weekend pass option. With that one you can come in and out all weekend long and that's only $40.  And then this year we've changed the VIP pass a little bit. Instead of a full weekend of VIP pass cost, you can come either on a Friday, a Saturday or a Sunday and that's $50 per day each time. So it's really cost effective. And also kids 12 and under are free.

Ken Wallis

And for those that haven't been to the festival before, whereabouts is it actually located?

Yvette Gauthier

So it's at the East End of Wasaga Beach. It's at the Stonebridge Town Centre,  which is near the Walmart there, and that is at 291 Main St. if anybody wanted to jot that address down. But it's really easy to find, but it's at the East End of the beach.

Ken Wallis

The festival is fantastic, but there's certainly an an awful lot to do when you do get there.

Yvette Gauthier

Well, that's for sure, especially the VIP this year. We have a lot of really nice little surprises for our attendees.  We're going to have meet and greets for the VIP section in the tent, where you can actually meet the talent. There's also a merch section and just a lot of really fun surprises this year in the VIP section. But also, we have vendors.   So you have food right there if you'd like, or if you'd rather bring a picnic, we welcome families to bring their children and enjoy the day.  Just bring your own basket with your picnic. That's definitely welcome. And we provide water there as well. So you don't have to bring your bottles of water in. And we also have other merchandise to purchase as well.

Ken Wallis

And I assume that people should bring their own chairs.

Yvette Gauthier

Bring your own chairs, definitely.  Even if they're in the VIP section, folks like to go out in the open air as well. So yeah, definitely bring your own chairs. We do provide drinks but bring cash.

Ken Wallis

Well, it's been great chatting with both of you. Again, the festival is September 13th through the 15th and I thank you both for your time.

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