Johnny Matsiak says he’s worked with “almost every Canadian artist there is,” and now the Little Gull Lake cottager is planning to bring an 80s themed three-day music festival to Minden Hills in August.
It’s been dubbed the Ohana Music Festival by his partner, Leanne Finlay, and slated for Aug. 22-24 at the Minden Fairgrounds.
The plans for what would be an annual musical festival came up at a Jan. 27 Minden Hills council meeting. CAO Cynthia Fletcher told councillors she was “very excited we can have this in our backyard.”
She said they’d been approached by Matsiak and Finlay, who are “very” experienced organizers of music festivals. “They live seasonally in this community, and want to do something in this community, and give back to this community. It’s very clear that the focus of the festival is twofold: it’s family and it’s supporting local where possible,” Fletcher said.
She added staff and other key stakeholders, such as OPP, were working with Matsiak and Finlay, who are renting the fairgrounds. She added the organizers have had answers to all the logistical questions to date. She said staff would continue working with them and was confident they could tackle any logistics and concerns.
“This is exciting for Minden Hills. The spin-off for our businesses in the community, our service clubs will be involved, high school students will have opportunities to volunteer,” Fletcher added.
Matsiak is a lifelong musician, turning professional in his late teens. As a sound engineer, he said he had toured across Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Some of the acts he has worked with include The Spoons, Flock of Seagulls, Suzie McNeil, Glass Tiger, Honeymoon Suite, Tom Cochrane, Corey Hart, and the Magic of Ireland dance group. He’s also been a booking agent for theatres.
Finlay, meanwhile, “loves music, especially the 80s” when she was a teenager. Being with Matsiak, she has been involved with a lot of the bands, and selling merchandise.
About four or five years ago, she took on her former aunt’s cottage on Little Gull Lake.
Matsiak said the two are adventurous and on drives around the County, they’d noticed the fairgrounds.
“We kept on driving past this field going to the dump. I kept on looking at it, wondering ‘what goes on here’?” They researched online and found the Haliburton County Fair, tractor pull and show’ n’ shine, Canada Day and ice races, but lots of vacancies.
The seed was planted. Matsiak thought with his experience at music festivals, they could pull it off. Then they approached the township. With its support, the wheels are in motion. Matsiak has hired a booking agent and is working his contacts with Canadian bands.
He knows he wants, “primarily 80s acts…,” joking, “staying with that genre this year because most of them are still alive.” He is contemplating a country artist or two. He said the acts will play full 70-minute sets. While there will not be opening acts, there will be a headliner for the weekend.
Matsiak added they are committed to local vendors, including for food, and want to work with service clubs. “We want to keep it as local as possible – we just need to get the word out for that.”
He said they would also donate a percentage of net proceeds to local service clubs and charity, with the same percentage going to Ronald McDonald House. They have already launched a website at ohanamusicfestival.ca
He said the other key point is it is “going to be a very green festival, we are not allowing plastic, or Styrofoam. And, we want to invite families.”
