Since opening Ed’s Garage & Tap Room on Main Street in 2016, York County Cider’s homebase has become the Northside’s main destination for live music.
Matt Carter
If you look back through the city’s entertainment history, the northside of Fredericton has never really been known as a destination for live music audiences. With several of the city’s most active music venues located in the downtown core, and with multiple weekly performances happening uptown on the Grimross Brewing Company stage, live music “across the bridge” is often overlooked or all together forgotten. But all you need to do is scroll through the weekly event lists on Facebook (or on the Music Runs Through It website) to see the vibrant scene that has taken shape along Main Street in recent years; one that continues to expand and flourish despite existing in the shadow of Fredericton’s more established live music stages.
Back in March of 2018, we shared news of a new partnership between York County Cider and local music promoter Emma Chaverie. At the time there was almost no live music happening on the northside with any regularity. But that is no longer the case. York County Cider and its neighbour across the street – Half Cut Brewery – have made the mouth of Main Street a growing destination for singer songwriters and small emerging ensembles.
“Regular live music is very important to us and I’m making every effort to see that we have performers here at least twice a week,” said Marc Boudreau, York County Cider’s operations manager. “It alternates, where we have two days of live music one week, and then three days of live music the following week. We have either open mics or live music every Sunday, and we host an old school country and western jam the first Saturday of every month and a Celtic jam the last Saturday of every month.”
Between these regular drop-in events, ideal for the musically curious or any emerging talent looking to get their feet wet on a live performance stage, York County Cider also hosts regular performances most Friday evenings with shows already planned for the next six weeks.
Boudreau now handles all the live music bookings (get in touch) and most regular events are hosted by a local performer. Daisy Coburn, who operates Daisy’s House of Music in Keswick, hosts the Sunday showcases and Fredericton based singer songwriter Derek Gullison hosts the open mic events. The old school country and western jam is hosted by two-time Canadian Folk Music Award nominee Mike Bravener, and the monthly Celtic sessions are hosted by the CelticKin, a local Irish dance studio.
“As far as I can tell, we are the only people on the Northside hosting shows regularly,” said Boudreau.
Upcoming Performances:
April 28 | Papa John Witterick | 7 p.m.
May 5 | Yves St. Laurent | 7 p.m.
May 12 | John Prine Tribute Show | 7 p.m.
May 14 | Open Mic
May 19 | Carlin Fraser | 7 p.m.
May 21 | Steve Waylon
May 23 | Bob Dylan Tribute | 2 p.m.
May 26 | Blue Mountain Duo | 7 p.m.
May 27 | Women Of Country Tribute Show | 7 p.m.
May 28 | Open Mic | 2 p.m.
May 30 | Open Mic | 2 p.m.
June 2 | Johnny Rhapsody Band | 7 p.m.
June 4 | Time Traveler | 2 p.m.
June 11 | Open Mic | 2 p.m.
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