By James Peters / Chad Harris

Snowbombing music festival takes over Sun Peaks

Apr 6, 2017 | 4:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — An event that has become a staple of the European music festival scene is making its North American debut at Sun Peaks this weekend.

Snowbombing has been held for the past 17 years in Austria, and organizers wanted to retain the European ski village feel when they chose Sun Peaks for the first festival on this side of the Atlantic.

Production Director Paul Runnals says 4,000 people are expected to attend, and they will see a total of 52 musical acts.

“What they can expect is a weekend filled with music, and hopefully good weather. There are nine different stages, some daytime, some nighttime — some indoors, some outdoors. There is a little bit of everything, it is all very accessible to anyone that has a wristband,” said Runnals.

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Tourism Sun Peaks CEO Arlene Schieven says festival attendees will have plenty of good skiing and snowboarding in between shows.

She notes Snowbombing is on par with the biggest events the resort has ever hosted.

“We’ve certainly have had events of that size, but not over the course of four days. So some of our major concerts would attract that many people, the Spartan event that is held here in September attracts that many people. This is over the course of four days, so it is a little bit of a different situation.” 

“It is happening during a quiet time of the year, so having a boost to April business will definitely be a help,” said Schieven. 

Schieven says the average age of those expected at the event is under 30, and Runnals notes they are coming from all across Canada and as far away as Europe.

Runnals adds Sun Peaks was a natural fit to host the festival.

“It was a good size, but not the scale of a Whistler-Blackcomb where an event like this might not have the opportunity to take over the resort, and that is what they have done here. As you walk around the village there is branding and banner flags and all kinds of stuff going on to let you know something special is going on.”