Little Red River Park is going to be the place to be in Prince Albert on Sunday.
The 13th annual Pine Needle Mountain Bike and Music Festival is scheduled to take place at Little Red with the first musical performance beginning at 11 a.m.
Mike Horn, the owner of Fresh Air Experience who puts on the festival says the event gets people excited for the outdoor season ahead.
“It is the kickoff to summer. We have it in June for that reason, get people ramped up for the outdoors before they hit the lakes. Kids are wrapping up school and everyone’s kind of got that excitement for summer. We had a pretty delayed spring and everyone’s been pretty anxious to get outside and do stuff. This really is the springboard to summer and it’s always a lot of fun.”
For the mountain bike portion of the festival, the event is using the same 6.9 kilometre loop as the 2025 event. According to the Pine Needle website, the trail consists of flowy single and double tracks that allows ample space for passing. There are two challenging climbs on the route with it being accommodating for all skill levels.
Horn says there will be plenty going on at this year’s festival, with something for attendees of all ages.
“We got lots of good things going on with the mountain biking, the six-hour mountain bike event. We’ve switched up the food a little bit this year. We were going to have a couple food trucks out there, which is super exciting, I think that’ll draw some people. We’ve got our kids running race, the wilderness run happening as well. Kuma Outdoor Gear, they do cornhole games and ladderball games and stuff like that. We’re going to have a bit of a game zone for people to play some cornhole and ladderball while things are going on as well.”
Six bands will take to the music stage this year beginning with the duo of the Edwards brothers at 11 a.m. Other performers on the docket include Mercy Gover (11:45), Cupid’s Heart (12:30), Enderby (1:30), LJ Tyson (2:40) and Ray The Nihilist (4:00).
Horn says he’s excited about the musical element to this year’s festival because of the wide variety of music genres being covered.
“The music portion is pretty cool because most of it is fairly local, which is awesome. It really gives local artists a chance to get on the stage and show their talents. We’ve got a mix, like there’s kind of going to be some rock, classic rock, some country. We’ve got hip-hop kind of stuff as well. It’s pretty cool for people that just enjoy music and it kind of hits on lots of different types and styles.”
The festival is free to attend.
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