Shambhala sets record for early-bird ticket sales
Number 15 is just like number 14, which is just like number 13 . . . and so on, and so on.
The Shambhala Music Festival continues to be a big hit with music goers as organizers announced the event’s early-bird tickets for the 2013 festival have already sold out.
Tickets went on sale on Thursday, November 1 at 6 p.m. and within 21 minutes the first tier of tickets were gone, setting a record for sales.
In 2011, first tier tickets sold out in 22 hours.
“I am blown away,” said executive producer Corrine Zawaduk in a press release.
“We won’t be releasing our line-up until the spring, but still people believe in what we are doing enough to buy a ticket. People trust that we deliver.”
Shambhala now has only 6,000 available online meaning festival organizers have sold 40 per cent of their tickets in 12 hours.
“This is the fourth year in a row that we’re going to experience a sell-out,” said ticket and vendor administrator Sara Victor.
“For two years this has happened the fall before the line has been released. There is nothing quite like sitting on this side watching the orders roll in. It’s inspiring.”
Victor said the commitment and faith from ticket holders motivates festival organizers to continually make the best event possible encouraging people to come back year after year.
The festival, held annually in August at the Salmo River Ranch, has regularly sold out with 10,000 people in attendance.
As organizers begin preparations for their upcoming event, they will be incorporating the feedback received in a survey conducted last month.
“It was great to hear the community is willing to work with us closer on a tourism and destination management platform,” said Zawaduk. “It sounds like many businesses and organizations want to develop better partnerships, but there is still a segment of the population that things ‘something should be done about Shambhala.’”
There were 90 surveys received by the festival and 79.4 per cent had a positive perception of Shambhala.
Zawaduk along with her siblings and executive producers Jimmy and Anna Bundschuh shared the results at a special Business-after-Business event held last month at the Shambhala Music and Performance Hall at Nelson’s Selkirk College Tenth Street Campus.
“It was an excellent event,” said Zawaduk. “There as a good turn out with the key mover an shakers from the community for the strategic planning. The realization that we are a world class event is slowly spreading.”
The 2012 Shambhala Music Festival was marred by a drug overdose on the Sunday morning of the event.
Mitchell Joseph Fleischacker of Sidney was transported from the festival to Trail believed to be suffering from a drug overdose.
Fleischacker was pronounced deceased by the attending physician at the Trail Regional Hospital.
At the time Britz Robins, Social Media & Communications for the Shambhala Music Festival said the man collapsed in the food court area at approximately 5:20 a.m. and was immediately aided by first aid services.
B.C. Coroner’s Service later released a statement of no foul play in the death of Fleischacker.