By Pepper Parr
February 10th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
Council got to hear what MRGLive plans to do during the 2026 Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival.
Council didn’t get everything they wanted.
What was news was that the $150,000 the city had on the table won’t get paid out to MRGLive; they are a for-profit corporation, and the city is not permitted to give grants to corporations.
Adam Vickers: “I want to give you a bit of an understanding of who we are and what we do.
Adam Vickers: “I want to give you a bit of an understanding of who we are and what we do before we get into the details of the festival. We are the leading independent North American concert entertainment production company founded in 2008. We produce 1000 events annually, entertaining 4 million attendees in 2025 servicing emerging nine, owned, operated program venues and producing concerts across Canada, the US, with recent expansion into the UK and Australia. The mission is to be the leading partner for connecting talent to their audiences, focusing on developing and growing artists and markets, while never forgetting the importance of the fan experience.
“To give you some context of the size and scale of these events, cats on a street party happens in one day in July. We get the street at 5 am and we close down 10 blocks of a major street in the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver. We build seven stages, six beer gardens. We have 60 acts that perform throughout the course of the one day. And we have 175,000 people that come out to support the Festival, which we win multiple awards for every year. We build 60 mobile kitchens, and have representatives from 60 different countries come and cook their native food. On top of that, there’s a music festival, there’s a children’s section, there’s a midway,
“We are very, very proud to present the concept for Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival, which will be a free two day outdoor music and arts experience taking place Father’s Day weekend, June, 20 and 21st in Burlington’s iconic Spencer Smith Park. It will also extend along Brant Street and activating Burlington’s downtown core. Lakeshore will spotlight the best in Canadian music while celebrating local arts culture and most importantly, community.
“Lakeshore will feature nationally celebrated Canadian artists, alongside emerging artists and talent from Burlington’s backyard, complemented by engaging, family friendly programming, food trucks, and beverage gardens. We still have a few things to figure out. 2026 Given that we’re new and working on a relatively tight timeline, we want to keep some of the same elements of past events that have proven successful while looking to the future to find new ways to grow Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival year after year.
“Our focus this year is on building community partnerships. That means having conversations with key stakeholders, creating strong relationships with local suppliers, engaging existing partnerships and exploring new ones, working to understand what the people of Burlington and the Halton Region want, and building trust within the community.
“Our only objective in 2026 is deliver a great yet sustainable festival experience for this community, with its prime waterfront setting, broad audience appeal and strong cultural mandate, the Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival is positioned to become one of Ontario’s premier outdoor music events for years to come.
Transforming Brant Street into a pedestrian paradise.
“The festival elements: the main stage, which will be located at the east end of a Spencer Smith Park and will feature prominent Canadian acts and talent, talented emerging artists, keeping attendees entertained from start to finish. The secondary stage, located at the west end of Spencer Smith Park, the stage will combine notable Canadian programming, along with a diverse lineup of performers, we’re exploring different performance mediums, like dance.
“Brant street stage located at Brant and James, just outside of City Hall will feature acoustic style bands from the Burlington area and the GTA much like previous events, we’ll be looking through the local talent base to program that stage.
“Transforming Brant Street into a pedestrian paradise, where attendees can shop local artisan booths, eat local fare and enjoy a patio while taking an amazing local music and most importantly, supporting local business.
The Family Zone, which will be located next to the playground in Spencer Smith Park,
“The Family Zone, which will be located next to the playground in Spencer Smith Park, will include face painting, painting, Bubble artists, bouncy castles, arts and crafts and entertainment for kids of all ages, beverage garden, strategically placed within the park, festival goers can take a minute to enjoy beverage while listening to music, enjoying the view or taking a moment to laugh with friends.
“Food Trucks, which are very popular around here, Lakeshore, will feature the region’s best food trucks, allowing festival goers to refuel or just indulge every from crowd pleasing comfort food to global flavors and sweet treats. There’s something for everyone, every craving and dietary preference.
“We find the best of emerging Canadian talent and give them a platform to grow and reach new audiences local musicians. So we do this with some of our other festivals. We open up a music Submission section of the website where local bands can submit. We get six to 700 submissions a year, which we narrow down to the 60 bands that play. And so we want to give everybody, even if you’ve never released a song, you can send in your information and still get a chance to play in our lineup. It’s very talent based.
:\”We’re working very hard to build strong ties with the arts community here in Burlington and local arts organizations for the timeline next slide, February, we have decided on our branding. Our website and socials were launched this week. Vendor submissions will open, and music submissions that I just spoke to will open as well.
“In March, we’ll be announcing the public save the date, we’ll be continuing with community engagement and having key conversations with stakeholders. And our VIP tickets will go on sale.
For 2026 we are focusing on only Canadian talent.
“April, will finalize our site layout, confirm all vendors and complete all of our programming. May will announce our lineup. We’ll start a marketing par campaign around that lineup announcement, and we’ll finalize public safety planning. In June, we’ll have an ongoing marketing campaign, festival execution, and on June, 20 and 21st we will create some magic.
Some questions, the first coming from Mayor Mead Ward.
In terms of the acts, does that mean there will be no performances that are not Canadian on the stage,
Adam Vickers: For 2026 we are focusing on only Canadian talent.
Meed Ward: The previous festival had quite a contingent of volunteer help and, of course, support from businesses. What is your plan? Tell us how you’re going to weave that into your plans.
Adam Vickers: “We’ve started conversations with the Burlington Downtown Business Association, the Performing Arts people, the Art Gallery, the Chamber of Commerce, the Legion and Rotary,
My hope is that we can figure out a scenario where members of the BDBA would be invited free of charge for space in in the market festival.
“I’ve been put in touch with people that were involved in The Sound of Music. We’ve engaged personnel that were involved in past festivals, and one in particular was very intertwined with the volunteer base, and we’re hoping to tap into that. We’d also like to hire a local crew. We’re in the process of doing, they will be our boots on the ground here – giving jobs to the community.
Mayor Meed Ward: “Will you be doing a sort of a public call out for volunteers at all? Is there a way that we can assist in spreading the word?
Adam Vickers: “As part of the music submissions, we’ll have a volunteer form on our website that people can sign up to be a volunteer.
“My hope is that we can figure out a scenario where members of the BDBA would be invited free of charge for space in in the market festival. Obviously, when we, depending on where those conversations go, we would the brick and mortar businesses would have first right of refusal for the space in front, and then any other members of the BDBA or downtown businesses that are downtown would get a discounted rate.
“We would fill in the rest of the spots with artisan and commercial vendors. We figured from Lakeshore on Brandt to James, and then Pine and Elgin there are roughly about 130 booth spaces within that footprint.
Councillor Galbraith: “Along the same lines, will the bricks and mortar businesses captured within the pedestrianized portion of Brant Street, which is the site of the marketplace, be permitted to utilize the public space in front of their business, correct?
Adam Vickers: “We would provide a 10 by 20 footprint, if they decided that they wanted to expand beyond that, there would be an additional charge for space. But yes, the brick and mortar businesses would be allocated a 10 by 20 spot free of charge.
Meed Ward: “My question is around the application for the local acts. I think it’s open.”
Adam: “It’s not open yet. We, as a company, have a growing database of artists in BC and Ontario.
“We have a general submissions link that is open year round for artists. So they may have submitted to that, they may have, you know, gone a different route, if they have an agent or or a manager or something that’s, you know, gone directly to one of our buyers. But the music, the music submissions link, along with the vendor links, volunteer link, will be open this week.
A curated food truck zone offering diverse cuisine options.
Galbraith: My final question, the MRG brief, includes a notation about additional on site experiences will include a curated food truck zone offering diverse cuisine options and family friendly beverage gardens. So is it your intention that the food truck zone be located in the confines of Spencer Smith Park only?
I wouldn’t want to step on toes of a local business.
Adam: I don’t want to take away from any of the there’s so many great restaurants in the downtown core that are part of the BDBA, unless there was a conversation where we felt the need to subsidize and put additional food trucks in there so that there was more options and people could get something to eat a little quicker, we’d be open to that. But as of right now, I wouldn’t want to step on toes a local business.
Council loved what they heard. A lot of follow up to be done.
I thought that the Mayor wanted a parade.Is that included?
Editor’s note: The parade story is a separate article.