On a (hopefully) sunny Saturday in September, 12 bands and one DJ will descend one a little white church on Highway 638 near Centreline Road for a full day of music and shenanigans during the inaugural Oh! No music festival hosted by Six, Two, Oh!
Event organizer and Six, Two, Oh! promoter Jamie Vincent told SooToday he came up with the idea for the fest earlier this year after researching area music festivals. He was surprised by the number of small, obscure events he found within a few hours drive of Sault Ste. Marie, including those in northern Ontario and Michigan.
“I saw that and thought, ‘Hey, I could do this.’ I’ve been putting on shows for five years now, so I figured I’d give it a shot,” he said.
With a date (Saturday, Sept. 9) and location (the church-turned-residence in Leeburn) set, Vincent just needed to fill the day’s entertainment roster.
“Beaver Slap and Artificial Dissemination just happened to be passing through the Sault on the day I had planned on hosting the festival,” Vincent said. “So they were the first ones to be added to the bill.”
The roster grew as he reached out to other Sault and northern Ontario bands. And once the Gore Street Cafe joined the festivities as the Oh! No official food vendor, a band originally slotted to perform at the cafe, Run Coyote, was added to the performance lineup.
Sault Ste. Marie talent scheduled to perform includes Handsome Sandwich, A Dire Setback, Slumshine, Jack Spades, Bill Priddle, Vol., Winkstinger, and DJ Seith. The festival’s out-of-towners are Franquilizers (Thunder Bay), Beaver Slap (Barrie), Artificial Dissemination (Toronto), Lightmares (Sudbury), and Run Coyote (Toronto).
Vincent says he hopes to expand and grow the festival into something music fans will travel for.
“I’d like it to be a music festival in northern Ontario that people from other communities come to, eventually. I know that will take a couple of years, but hopefully it will as big as Northern Vibe,” he said.
Tickets for Oh! No 2017 are $25 each and may be purchased at Big Guns Barbershop, Northland Music, The Rad Zone, Case's Music, the Gore Street Cafe, and Coch's Corner. Tickets are also available from any participating local band.
On-site camping is available, but personal fires are not permitted. There will be a community bon fire maintained by festival volunteers for attendees to enjoy. Campers are encouraged to bring their own trash bags in order to ensure a clean site and proper garbage disposal.
Unfortunately, shuttle service to and from Sault Ste. Marie will not be provided. Festival guests are encouraged to ride share and parking is available on-site.
Oh! No is BYOB, cans and plastic only. Glass is not permitted. While this is a 19+ event, children are permitted to attend under parental supervision.
For event updates, please follow the festival’s Facebook event page.