By: Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, : Burlington Local-News.ca
On February 9, the City of Burlington hosted its monthly Committee of the Whole meeting, where council and staff discussed various items relevant to the city and its residents.
Adam Vickers, sales and development manager for The MRG Group, delegated to council on behalf of the group and discussed the organization’s plan for the upcoming 2026 Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival.
Vickers presented a slideshow that gave council background on MRG and an overview for the festival.
The MRG Group was founded in 2008 and, according to Vickers, is Canada’s largest independent entertainment promotion company. MRG produces over 1,000 events annually, entertaining 4 million attendees.
Vickers said that MRG is “experienced in producing concerts, large-scale community festivals, galas, award shows, and corporate events.”
The Lakeshore festival will be their largest event to date. MRG promises a free, two-day outdoor music and arts experience taking place June 20–21.
“Lakeshore is designed as a vibrant, multi-stage festival, which will feature nationally celebrated Canadian artists, alongside emerging artists and talent from Burlington’s backyard, complemented by engaging, family-friendly programming, food trucks, beverage gardens and more,” Vickers said.
Vickers said that 2026 will be MRG’s jumping-off point: “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 the Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival year after year.”
“Our focus this year is on building community partnerships,” Vickers continued. “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 to deliver a great yet sustainable festival experience for this community.”
Vickers said that MRG understands that they’re “stepping into some very big shoes,” and said that 2026 is all about them proving themselves.
MRG also plans to have a “Brant St. Festival,” which will transform the street into “a pedestrian paradise, where attendees can shop at local artisans’ booths and Brant Street merchants, eat local fare, and enjoy a patio, all while taking in amazing local music and supporting local business.”
A “Family Zone” will include face painting, bubble artists, bouncy castles, and arts and crafts.
Vickers said that MRG is taking the results of the public survey that was released last fall into consideration when crafting the lineup for the festival.
“Canadian talent was something that was very, very high on their [respondents’] list,” Vickers said. “For the main stage … we’re looking first to bands that were discovered and developed in Burlington or the Halton region. [As for] emerging Canadian talent, as concert promoters, this is what we do best. We find the best emerging artists and give them a platform to grow and reach new audiences.”
Vickers said that MRG will open a music submission section of their website, where local bands can sign up to potentially play in the festival. A submission section for volunteers and vendors will open at the same time later this month.
The festival will also feature local performing arts groups.
Mayor Marianne Meed Ward asked Vickers about the potential of including a parade as part of the festival, which is how the outgoing Sound of Music (SOM) festival began.
Vickers said that while MRG is open to hosting a parade in the future, financial and logistical questions led them to not include one as part of this year’s festival.
“Given our timeline, it was important to us to deliver on what we could deliver well,” Vickers said. “Not to say that we couldn’t do a parade, but it’s not something that we have a ton of experience doing.”
Vickers also said another reason they chose not to include a parade as part of the itinerary this year was to separate themselves from SOM.
When the item regarding the festival came up on the meeting’s agenda, Meed Ward expressed her desire to have a parade accompanying the MRG’s plans for June.
“Because they are not eligible for the funding that we set aside, there is a little bit of money [for the parade],” Meed Ward said. “I think there are a number of community organizations that may be willing to step forward and deliver that for us as a partnership or an add-on to the parade.”
“It’s just such a critical part of our heritage,” Meed Ward continued. “And I did hear the folks at MRG saying they are trying to brand their own festival, and I absolutely get that. So I’m not asking them to deliver this, but I think it could be a neat add-on.”
Emilie Cote, director of recreation, community, and culture for the city, said that the runway for a parade is around a year and that staff’s preference would be to plan it for 2027, rather than this year’s festival.
Cote also said that the city would need $50,000 to $60,000 for a parade timed around the 2026 festival.
“The $50,000 is really around all the logistics behind the road closure,” Cote said. “It includes vehicle mitigation and the honorarium for all the bands. There are also costs around staff, police, and marketing and communications.”
Cote also said that the city could look into a more scaled-down version of the parade, as well as different funding models.
Meed Ward noted that the city doesn’t yet know what the costs will be and that paying honoraria for participants likely won’t be necessary.
“I don’t think it competes with the rebranding of Lakeshore,” Meed Ward said. “I think it can complement.”
Ward 3 Councillor Rory Nisan said that he would like to explore what the Community Investment Fund of $150,000 could be used for. “There’s a lot of good we can do with that money,” Nisan said.
Ward 6 Councillor Angelo Bentivegna cautioned against clashing with MRG’s plans for the festival. “We have six months before this organization gets going,” Bentivegna said. “And we should be helping them do what they want to do.”
Meed Ward said that the logistics of putting on the parade will “sort themselves out.”
“We have a parade in a box,” Meed Ward said. “We have residents who are able to do this. But we [shouldn’t] just sit back and wait for people to wonder if the city wants to do it, wonder if there’s a possibility, and wonder if there’s even money. We can actually be more helpful to our residents and tell them that there is all that.”
“Let’s not make it a bigger deal than it is,” Meed Ward continued. “We’re good at this, and we can figure it out. I think the community will benefit from it, and I think MRG, when I asked them the question directly, they’re not opposed to this at all. They just don’t want it to be part of what they’re doing, which is totally fine. We don’t need them to do it. We have other folks that can do it.”
Ward 4 Councillor Shawna Stolte echoed Meed Ward’s sentiment: “I think they [MRG] might actually be quite pleased to know that they’re off the hook for planning future parades, because I don’t think they’re in the parade business.”
Meed Ward tabled an amendment to the motion, which will “direct the director of recreation, community, and culture to be available to support a community-driven parade at the same time as the Lakeshore Music and Arts Festival in 2026, to be funded from the Community Investment Fund.”
Since MRG is open to hosting parades in the future, Meed Ward’s amendment is only focused on 2026.
The amendment passed 4-2, with only Bentivegna and Ward 1 Councillor Kelvin Galbraith voting against.
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