Every year, Sappyfest, the annual arts and culture festival that takes place in Sackville, N.B. – population of 6,099 – takes on a different slogan. In 2012, for its seventh iteration, the festival borrowed from Neil Young: “Everybody knows this is nowhere.”
“There’s banners everywhere with these slogans on them,” says Colin Medley, a Toronto-based photographer and videographer who has been documenting the festival since his first visit in 2008. “And I guess that year it was maybe embracing the fact that, yeah, this is nowhere. But stuff still happens here.”
Since its inception in 2006, Sappyfest has made a name for itself by drawing some of the brightest, most up-and-coming stars in Canadian music to the small Maritime town – indeed, a spot that feels very much like nowhere, but for one weekend a year, is the place to be.
Musicians ranging from Polaris Music Prize winner Lido Pimienta and indie rock icons Eric’s Trip to Arcade Fire and American soul icon Charles Bradley have graced Sappy’s stages. The festival is just as well known for the talent it draws as it is for the sense of community it fosters: Musicians and attendees mingle at shows, accommodations and art activations, and people regularly forge lifelong friendships and artistic connections.
Over the years, Medley has created a comprehensive visual archive of Sappyfest as its playfully designated, yet informal, photographer. “I think I actually have a pass that says ‘official photographer,’” Medley says, adding that it’s more of an acknowledgment of his membership in the Sappyfest community than it is a set role.
“People joke about it being a summer camp for adults,” says Medley, comparing the fest to other events, such as the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ont., or the Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon, for their similar atmospheres. “There’s something about these communities for people who are searching for a different way of life,” he says.
To commemorate Sappyfest’s 20th iteration, which takes place from Aug. 1 to 3, Medley took The Globe and Mail through a guided tour of some of the images he’s captured of the fest over the years.
