For the 11th time, the Pine Needle Mountain Bike & Music Festival is ready to take over Little Red River Park in Prince Albert.
The event began back in 2012 and took two years off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mike Horn, the chief organizer of the festival says the day will have something for everyone.
“It’s a great day, lots of stuff going on in Little Red River Park, something for everybody. We’ve got a stage with live music, we’ve got six bands scheduled to come and play throughout the day starting at 11 o’clock. We’ve got our kids wilderness run, so kids can come out and participate in a run up the hills and through the trails out of Little Red, so that’s a fun event for the kids. We’ve got some great food. The main part of the festival is our six hour mountain bike event, it’s a relay event that’s awesome for all abilities. So if you’re a new mountain biker or an experienced mountain biker, anyone can come out and enjoy riding the trails and enjoying the music and food and the scenery of the park.”
The festival will feature six bands throughout the day with Fiberglass, Josh Stumpf, East Side of 2nd, The Pretty Goods, The Brothers G and Chesterfield Music scheduled to take the stage.
Horn says the event is held at Little Red because of the atmosphere it provides.
“It’s the nicest park in our province and it creates a really nice backdrop and a great location for something like this. You don’t have to be an active outdoor person to appreciate the beauty of our park. It’s great to get people out there and experience it and to enjoy it. This event really targets everybody. It allows families and fans of music and outdoor people to come out and just give them a great day in the park and something to enjoy.”
The event raises funds that are donated back to Little Red River Park. In the previous 10 years of the festival, more than $70,000 has been raised for the park.
Horn says he finds it important to donate to the park as he spends a lot of time using the trails on his own time.
“There’s lots of great events in our city and I think of myself as a long -standing park user. I appreciate the park. I appreciate what it brings to our city and offers our community and citizens, but I also feel that there’s a responsibility to give back and to try and help out and continually make our park a better place for everybody to get out. It’s harder and harder to do things, stuff is expensive and if we can help contribute whatever we can, we want to. We don’t want to just go out there and use the park and that’s it, we want to go out and do our part to try and give back.”
The 2024 Pine Needle Mountain Bike & Music Festival is on Sunday, June 9 at Little Red River Park.