Tablet Pharmacy: Ever find yourself waiting endlessly at a big box pharmacy, feeling like just another number? At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalized service you deserve. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Rockin' Rhonda: Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: Welcome back to the Pulse Community Podcast. I'm Peter McCully, and we're here with more stories from the heart of mid Vancouver Island.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. It's February, a month infamous for the blahs, but we here at the Pulse have a different opinion. I suggest that this is a month just chock full of goodness. We open with the always rollicking good times known as Groundhog Day. Have you ever stopped to think about Groundhog Day and just how ridiculous it is? But oh well, it's all in fun, except for maybe the groundhog.

Peter McCully: And then we have Valentine's Day, Dave, and the Family Day holiday. I should note that in the Parksville, Qualicum Beach area, we have Family Day events at the Coombs Fairgrounds, and of course then there's the Super Bowl.

Dave Graham: Yes, and the host of one of our partner podcasts, the F3 podcast, that would be Erin and Chef Jonathan Frazier. They are going to be attending the Super Bowl in San Francisco, and they will be sending us podcast reports about the big game. Of course, there's still another major sporting event happening—the Winter Olympics. As if that wasn't enough, there are a number of big-time curling events on. I told you February is pretty exciting. Canada is being represented at the World Junior Curling Championships in Denmark. Closer to home, although not clearly close enough to my house, we have hot chocolate festivals. There's one in Vancouver, there's one in Okanagan, and we have one on the island. It runs in Victoria through the month of February.

Peter McCully: Congratulations to Valerie Baker of Qualicum Beach, the winner of a $100 SMILE card from Thrifty Foods in Parksville. Valerie's favourite recipe for us was barbecued salmon.

Dave Graham: We had lots of entries. The top three favourite go-to budget meals were mac and cheese, stir fry and shepherd's pie. Oh, great. Now I really want some shepherd's pie. Hey, Peter, do you have any shepherd's pie on you?

Peter McCully: I don't think so, Dave. On this week's podcast, we'll hear from Mike Haan, the festival director for Lake Town Amphitheatre in Lake Cowichan, home to SunFest Country Music Festival. This year's lineup includes Tyler Hubbard, Jon Pardi, and Riley Green.

Mike Haan: What makes Lake Town special is that we keep adding to it every year. We keep paying attention to the surveys we send out—what amenities people wanna see, what food, that sort of thing. But you really have a sense that you're going to an established venue, a world-class place to see a concert, as opposed to going to a soccer field or what have you, or rodeo grounds to see a show. And that resonates with people.

Dave Graham: Also joining us this week is pharmacist Aki Shah. Aki will be discussing seasonal affective disorder, mental health medications, and practical strategies for maintaining mental wellness during these darker months of winter.

Aki Shah: For mental health, unfortunately, in our system, we already have a shortage of doctors. Of course, shortage means less time. That's where pharmacists come in. Even though we are considered outside of the primary care circle on the periphery, we are still the first point of contact and that's why, when it comes to things related like side effects, interactions—of course that's part of the job—but like how the medication works, the mechanism of action, and even simple things which we don't consider, like how to take it, when to take it.

Peter McCully: Stay tuned for some help to beat the February blahs. And on a future edition of the podcast, we'll be joined by Adrian Raeside. The Vancouver Island resident and bestselling cartoonist will be here to talk about his latest book, The Canada Handbook. It's a celebration of Canada's quirks, strengths and independent spirit.

Dave Graham: Susan Schaeffer is a professional artist, instructor and curator, and she'll be here to tell us about the art on display at the Bayside Resort in Parksville.

Peter McCully: And we'll chat with Sophia Conway about her exhibition of Shelf Memories at the McMillan Arts Centre, which captures handwritten notes and annotations found in used books.

Dave Graham: Used books might seem to be an unexpected source for an exhibition, but seeing messages that people leave in books can be a surprising look into the past, a little glimpse into the lives of others, and they could be powerful connections.

Peter McCully: We want you to get in touch with us. If you have someone in mind that you think we should be talking to, go to our website and leave us a voice or a text message. You can also email us at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Thrifty Foods: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, and schools. Our Thrifty Foods SMILE Card bulk program allows organizations to immediately save up to 6% on the purchase of SMILE Cards in bulk, allowing you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville.

Dave Graham: It's time for our first guest. Aki Shah is a pharmacist who's dedicated to making mental health care more accessible to everyone. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Winter can be tough on mental health. Pharmacist Aki Shah joins us to discuss seasonal affective disorder, mental health medications, and practical strategies for maintaining wellness during the darker months here on Vancouver Island.

Peter McCully: Thanks for making time to come back and chat with us on the Pulse Community Podcast, Aki.

Aki Shah: Yes, thank you for having me.

Peter McCully: January is often called the most difficult month for mental health. What are you seeing in terms of patients coming in with concerns about seasonal affective disorder, or as it's better known, the winter blues? And what advice do you typically offer when someone comes in?

Aki Shah: It's mostly after a casual chat and some people come in just with that concern in mind. If it's mostly after a casual chat, then I would give them non-pharmacologic devices to help with mood and mental health. One of the biggest challenges is we want to go outside, but of course the weather's not supportive. Going outside helps a lot. Walking helps. In that case, you don't have a choice, but which is a boon. But otherwise, it's hard to get yourself going in this weather sometimes. People who come directly with this question, they have went through a process in the background where they have made up their mind to get some health-related medication. Whenever you approach a healthcare professional, there is a little bit of a preconception that I'm going to go there and I'm going to get some medication advice. So in that case, we do the medication part. But then I also emphasize equally on the non-medication part as well, because seasonal affective disorder, if it is seasonal affective disorder, it's a shifting thing—a seasonal thing. So medication, sometimes once you get on them, they are hard to get off. Not all of them, but some of them.

Peter McCully: How do the shorter days and the reduced sunlight here on the island affect our brain chemistry? And what role does vitamin D and some of those other supplements play in maintaining mental wellness during the darker months?

Aki Shah: Vitamin D is quite heavily correlated with production of several different endorphins that kind of trickles down to lower serotonin levels, which in turn generates anxiety as well, because after a while you kind of forget why you are not feeling good and then the physical feedback loop kicks in where your brain thinks there must be something wrong. So the natural response is anxiety because natural evolutionary mechanisms, they want you to look for what's wrong, but as such, there isn't anything wrong. Now, in the early times, even with the reduced sunlight, it was enough for ourselves because in the hunting and gathering era, we would still get out every day foraging food and whatever. The typical sunlight exposure, even though it's less, it doesn't change because whenever you are going to go outside to get food or hunt, it's a four or five-hour exercise. That amount of sunlight is there even in peak winter months. However, now in modern life—say for example, when I used to work for an old pharmacy, I started eight in the morning, and then when I'm coming out, it's around 10, 10:30 at night. I go in the dark, I come out in the dark. So that has a huge impact on your mood. It feels as if sometimes—inmates in jails, they put you in a dark room. The same physiochemistry would play out because you're not exposed to pretty much any sunlight. Artificial light do not count because they do not have the UVA and UVB concentration that our cells would convert to vitamin D3 and D2. The artificial light will not cut it and you are not getting that extra vitamin D from anywhere else. So supplementation, it boils down to the only choice.

Peter McCully: As a teenager working up north, I remember in one of my first broadcasting jobs exactly that—leaving the house in the morning in the dark and coming home in the dark. And it didn't matter up there. If it was three o'clock in the afternoon, it was still dark.

Aki Shah: Yes.

Peter McCully: We're just a few weeks now into the new year and many folks are already struggling with their New Year's resolutions. Does the pressure around self-improvement in January impact mental health at all? And if so, what's a healthier approach?

Aki Shah: So it can play out two ways. Either you're successful—in that case you feel good—but if you're not successful, it feels not just as bad, but a little more, because as I said, the serotonin levels are a little bit lower. If you accomplish, you don't feel as good because again, the serotonin levels are lower. It's a double whammy. When you accomplish something, you don't give yourself enough credit, and when you don't accomplish something, you double down and feel even worse. I read about this technique, a Harvard technique—some group of researchers—and what they called it is "prep months," like January to March. This is the time that you are developing this new habit. You take it as a prep month because habit is the famous cliché thing like a highway, and initially it starts as a small footpath and then slowly grows bigger because your brain is forming those connections and it's unlikely that all of a sudden, your behavioural patterns would change. That's why this prep month philosophy, it resonated—you don't feel as bad because psychologically you're telling yourself that this is the prep time. So you are working on engineering your environment, you're working on how you would accomplish this habit rather than directly to the phase where you are accomplishing this habit, because of course that expectation brings a lot of pressure psychologically. So if you consider this January to March more like a preparation time for your resolution and then getting stronger at it, and surprisingly around mid-February, at least with me, I've noticed, is that you start to pretty much accomplish it rather than prepping for it. That's because that pressure was never there. Even though you accomplish it two or three times a week rather than the entire week, you still feel good. Whereas if you start out with the expectation that this is what you're gonna do every day, and then you do it five or six days, but you missed even one day, you feel quite bad because as I said, you're not feeling good in general. The spiral of slipping starts even faster. Because it's prep time, you allow yourself that door for failure that, yes, I failed today, but I will try again tomorrow. Your brain is not focused on why you failed. Rather, it's focused on how to not fail the next time. The possibility of actually developing the habit increases quite a bit.

Peter McCully: When somebody comes into your counter, Aki, and says, "I'm just not feeling myself this time of year," what's your approach to that conversation and at what point do you recommend that they see a doctor?

Aki Shah: A lot of times what happens is, especially when someone loses their loved ones in these months and in general, the winter blues, as you said, are going on. At that point, I do ask them to see the doctor because it's not just that you're not getting enough sunlight, it's also combining it with the grievance process of it. There are certain medications that have that addiction potential, but I do like to go for them compared to straight antidepressants. I'm talking about benzodiazepines because I feel like we should target the anxiety part more so than the depressant part, because once you are on an antidepressant, wearing off is usually quite hard, like tapering down and then getting rid of the medication altogether. Because summer, of course, it's gonna come. It's not like the earth will stay still and the longer days will come, activities will come. It's just about holding till that point in time. If you start, let's say, an antidepressant when the summer is there and the supportive environment is there, but you can't get off the medication because it's not that easy. Whereas something that's an anxiolytic, it works for a few hours, but it doesn't have to build up concentration or anything like that. So if you had one today and you didn't have one tomorrow, your brain's not gonna feel like those zaps, insomnia and all that. I would tell them to go to the doctor if it's a grieving situation combined along with not just feeling yourself.

Peter McCully: So for folks in our local communities who might be struggling but aren't ready to see a doctor yet, what resources or initial steps would you recommend?

Aki Shah: There are several support groups and also the nurses helpline. They are a rich resource in terms of which support groups and where. Another that come to mind is public health. They also have a nice directory, what programs are going on because it's fluid, because these are not—these programs, they come and go. They are there some days, they're not some days or some seasons. That's why it's important—people who keep track of it, like the nurses hotline or the public health, they usually have the recent information. I usually ask patients to make a list of the activities that would interest you and then at least go once. That process itself of research and finding activity and going there, even though the activity itself might not have that much of an impact, the process, kind of your focus towards that compared to thinking about, say if someone's grieving, thinking about that all the time. I do suggest, of course, not to worry too much about, because our society has treated as if grieving is a disease rather than a process. If we just put a lock on it, it doesn't mean it went away. We are just ignoring it. It's like some sort of homework, I would say. You have to complete it sooner or later, and the more you delay, the harder it becomes. So then might as well go through the grind rather than just jumping on medication.

Peter McCully: You mentioned some of the medications, Aki. What are some common misconceptions that you hear from patients about mental health medications? And what do you wish more people understood about them?

Aki Shah: What I wish is that people consider it as a tool rather than a solution. So let's say you want to fix your door. You need a screwdriver. So you take the screwdriver and fix the door. The fixed door is the end goal, not the screwdriver. Imagine you fix the door or not, but you found a screwdriver and then you consider satisfied. We need to consider the medications as a tool. Once the job's done, don't keep holding onto it. You just put it down. And that's where the pharmacist can come in in terms of guiding how to taper down and how to finally get rid of it, because one cannot be in a steady state of mind, even if they try to. If the mind is always shifting, considering just one pill to always keep it steady, that's not going to change because when you're feeling good, then you don't need anything. And when you're not feeling good, that's when you need to do something. And that doing something could be the medication or not. Considering medication as a tool takes out that stigma that if you wanna fix your door, and you feel like using a screwdriver, what would people think about it? You don't care about all this because you are focused on the solution. You want to get the door working. You don't care about how people would see you—using a screwdriver doesn't matter too much. I think that's the biggest thing, especially with male patients, deal with it with a strategy and deal with it incoming and then outgoing, like how you get into the process and then get out of the process. Because no matter what, if someone's grieving, a year from now with or without medication, it would be very different than when it happened, day one compared to day 365. So it's more about that passage of time. So whenever you are solving a mood-related crisis, be it just general seasonal affective, it's about how are you gonna deal with this time? Because our mind will tell us that this is a permanent situation and you're gonna feel like this forever, which isn't true.

Peter McCully: Beyond medication, Aki, what role can a community pharmacist play in supporting mental wellness year-round? And what services are available?

Aki Shah: For mental health, unfortunately, in our system, we already have a shortage of doctors. Of course, shortage means less time. That's where pharmacists come in. Even though we are considered outside of the primary care circle on the periphery, we are still the first point of contact. And that's why, when it comes to things related like side effects, interactions—of course that's part of the job—but how the medication works, the mechanism of action, and even simple things which we don't consider, like how to take it, when to take it. I remember one patient, they were taking Wellbutrin. It's well known in the pharmacist domain that it causes insomnia, like it wakes you up like coffee. She was taking it at night and because she wasn't sleeping well, the doctor wrote a sleep medication. When I was doing a medication review, I just said, let's hold off on the sleep medication for now and just try switching the time. And the next week she comes saying that, yes, I'm sleeping like a log. It was just the time of the medication. I would say whenever you're doing a medication review with your pharmacist, it's a good opportunity to discuss things. A good five, 10-minute discussion. I think that's a very underrated resource that a pharmacist can provide. What pharmacist can provide is the deeper mechanism of actions and how it's going to play out with the physiochemistry because mood is more related to the physiochemical changes in the mind. Chemistry is our gig in a way when it comes to medication. Doctors, they're really good at diagnosis, but diagnosis is already done. So the next step, which is the playing around with the regimen, that's where a pharmacist becomes a really good help.

Peter McCully: Well, Aki, we'll take that sage advice and also hope for more sunny days.

Aki Shah: I think this winter isn't that bad. I could be wrong, but at least so far.

Dave Graham: Thanks to Aki Shah for joining us on the Pulse podcast. The work that pharmacists do in supporting mental health is, well, it's invaluable, especially in communities where access to doctors can be limited and hearing Aki talk about being the first point of contact for people needing help really drives home what an important role pharmacists play.

Coombs Family Day: The 14th annual Coombs Family Day celebration is happening on Monday, February 16th, from one to 4:00 PM at the Coombs Fairgrounds. This year's featured animal is the goose. Come enjoy educational displays, games, crafts, live animals. Yes, maybe even a goose and so much more presented by the Arrowsmith Agricultural Association. This event is completely free. That's free admission, free cookie decorating, free face painting, and even free hot dogs and popcorn while supplies last. It's a fun, affordable way to spend Family Day with your family and celebrate our local community.

Tablet Pharmacy: Ever find yourself waiting endlessly at a big box pharmacy feeling like just another number? There's a better way. At Tablet Pharmacy, they provide the personalized service you deserve. Check their competitive prices online at tabletpharmacy.ca before you even leave home. They offer free delivery and blister packaging options to make managing your medications easier than ever. With convenient locations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and now open in Nanaimo near the Brick, Tablet Pharmacy has been serving Vancouver Island since 2019. Stop being just a prescription number. Experience the Tablet Pharmacy difference today. Visit them online and check their prices at tabletpharmacy.ca.

Dave Graham: We've added Vancouver Island webcam links to the Pulse community.ca website. So not only will you find links to all of our podcasts, you'll find events and contests and more.

Peter McCully: Our podcast family includes an insider's look at municipal politics in Non-Partisan Hacks, featuring Parksville councillors, Joel Grenz and Sean Wood.

Dave Graham: Then there's the F3 podcast. It's all about football, fantasy football and food. Hosted by Erin and Jonathan Frazier from the Comox Valley area. And might I recommend the recipes that Chef Jonathan includes with each edition? If you wanna do better than chips and dips, this might be the way to go.

Peter McCully: Our Skookum Kids stories feature Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo dog and the Mellow Submarine with Captain Dave and his first mate, Larry, the Lobster. Our kids stories now offer colouring pages to go along with each new episode. In the latest story, the Mellow Sub goes on a journey to deliver a gift for Valentine's Day.

Dave Graham: Our Radio Archeology classic radio series features original episodes of Dragnet with Sergeant Joe Friday and Gunsmoke with Marshall Matt Dillon. Check them out at thepulsecommunity.ca. Okay, let's bring on our next guest. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: In the green room is Mike Haan, festival director for the Lake Town Amphitheatre in Lake Cowichan, home to the SunFest Country Music Festival. Under his leadership, SunFest has grown into British Columbia's premier country music event, attracting top-tier talent like Tyler Hubbard, Jon Pardi, and Riley Green to Vancouver Island, while creating opportunities for local vendors and businesses.

Peter McCully: Thanks for making time for us today, Mike. I know you're a tremendously busy young man.

Mike Haan: I don't feel so young these days, but thanks for having me on, Peter. I appreciate it.

Peter McCully: Maybe that's because you just got back from a long air flight from Antarctica, a working trip, I understand.

Mike Haan: Yes, that's right. I'm very fortunate and feel very grateful that I still get to engage in that part of my life. I work as an expedition leader for a Chilean Antarctic expedition company, so I've been doing that side of things longer than I've been working in events, but obviously events have become the primary thing for me. But like I say, grateful that I get to still go out and scratch my itch of adventure, so to say.

Peter McCully: How long were you there?

Mike Haan: I was down there three weeks this year. In the past I used to go for longer. But yes, we fly people to a base and take them down the Antarctic peninsula, show them all the penguins and whales and glaciers and icebergs. So that's a nice time of year as far as my cycle with events to get away and yes, an amazing adventure. Meet some great people.

Peter McCully: And it's our winter, their summer. So what would the temperature be there?

Mike Haan: Just above zero. You're right. It's summer when I'm down there. I would not want to go in winter, I could tell you that. We get the 24-hour light and just beautiful skies. It's an incredible place. I say to everybody I know that everybody should go and see Antarctica at some point in their life. It puts the entire globe into perspective. It's absolutely mind-blowing.

Peter McCully: I'd like to ask you about the Nickelback concert before we start talking about SunFest 2026. Last year, the Lake Town Ranch hosted Nickelback. Tickets went pretty quickly. I missed mine too, but I understand it was the biggest concert on Vancouver Island ever.

Mike Haan: It was the biggest concert, ticketed concert. I should be clear on that. There's been some symphony splashes and things of that sort that have drawn more people. But ticketed concert, it was the biggest one in island history. We had over 15,000 people attend. Most came in for the day. So that brought forth some new challenges for us, which was a learning experience in everything we do. But all in all, the day was incredible. The vibe was incredible. All the acts were amazing. Nickelback were so classy to deal with and that was a heck of a show. One for the books. We'll see.

Peter McCully: We'll be watching to see, Mike, if there's another premier event aside from the SunFest Music Festival like Nickelback this year, which is coming up July 30th through August 2nd. So let's talk about last summer. Weather was good. Lineup was good. Just about as much as an organizer could hope for.

Mike Haan: It was an incredible summer. Obviously we had back-to-back weekends, so there's a lot of efficiencies in that. SunFest was awesome. The standouts for me were Brothers Osborne for sure. I thought they were great. Just the vibe with SunFest, I just enjoy every year. We didn't have any crazy heat waves, knock on wood for this year. Great vibes all around. Everybody had a great time and so we'd had some people stay both weekends, so stay right through. Well, they left and then came back for Nickelback. So yes, it was a wonderful summer. And then just to touch on your question about anything else that's in the works, we're always working on things, so we're always chatting with agents internationally and nationally to see what we can drum up. I can't spoil anything at this point. We don't know what's gonna happen at this point, but for context, at this point, last year, we didn't even know Nickelback was joining us. So things can change, but we're also not gonna force it. If we don't find the right fit, we won't move on it. We need to make sure that it's the right act to do something like we did with Nickelback.

Peter McCully: How many people would've shown up for SunFest last year?

Mike Haan: For SunFest, we were just north of 10,000. It was great. We had obviously fluctuations night to night. There's no doubt that some people, I think, chose to go to the following weekend as opposed to SunFest. I think the Nickelback show was a bit of a crossover for some. You have a lot of people that are fans of SunFest, but also fans of Nickelback, and depending on everybody's situation, people had to make a decision. We definitely saw some go to Nickelback over SunFest, but I can tell you that this year SunFest is off to the races. It's going to be a banner year. It's exciting to see.

Peter McCully: 10,000 people. That's a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers.

Mike Haan: It is, especially when people have had a couple of adult beverages, we'll say. They'd like to engage in maybe the foods that they don't normally, but yes, there's a lot of logistics of making sure people are well fed and nourished is a big part of that.

Peter McCully: How did you enjoy the Sawyer Brown show last year?

Mike Haan: I love the Sawyer Brown show because that's very nostalgic music for me. When I was in high school, I'll say, you know, just coming out of it, I won't give away the dates, but that was music that resonated with me. And actually, as far as my career with SunFest is concerned, my first or second, Sawyer Brown played. This was at Cowichan Exhibition Grounds. The lead singer reminds me of a country Gord Downie, the way that he performs on stage, and he was true to that form this year. It was incredible to see. Really enjoyed it.

Peter McCully: Now, your 2026 lineup features a mix of established artists and rising talent. Is that by design?

Mike Haan: It is by design. We always try and obviously get some established stars on the lineup. Country's really shifting these days. There seems to be a bit of a changing in the guard, so, you know, what people might think of as an established star for traditional names, it's really shifting. So Riley Green now is an established star, which is the improvement with how excited people are, but we always like to look for acts that are on their way up as well. In the industry, they're called green bananas. So you make the deal when they're green, and then by the time they come to the stage, they're yellow. Like with Lainey Wilson, 'cause country's got different genres within the genre, if you will, you know, different feels within country. So we try and touch as best we can on the various different areas and put together a diverse lineup within the grander genre of country, if that makes sense.

Peter McCully: You're not kidding. When you talk about variety and where country music is heading, because you've got, along with Riley Green, headliners like Tyler Hubbard, Jon Pardi, Tyler Joe Miller, James Barker Band.

Mike Haan: The Tyler Hubbard thing is people are getting to see a massive country star from the last decade with Florida Georgia Line, doing his solo thing now and supporting him is Tyler Joe Miller. For those Canadians that aren't aware of him, he is from Surrey. He's definitely one to watch. He's a great talent, great songwriter, and that's gonna be a heck of a show.

Peter McCully: You're kicking off the festival on Thursday with Tim and The Glory Boys. Why is Thursday's kickoff important to the overall SunFest experience?

Mike Haan: There's no denying, there's a lot of pent-up excitement every year, as we see with our early entry. So we have a lot of people that arrive on Wednesday, and that's always such a popular thing for people to do. They come and get settled in. And we like to kick things off, not with the grand scale of the main stage, but on our Lake Night Stage, which can still hold between four and 5,000 people. Get people sort of on that journey upwards towards the crescendo, which is the weekend. And it always sets a great tone. People are excited and like I say, making their homes on site for the weekend.

Peter McCully: I noticed on that Thursday night and Friday morning when I was on social media, that boy, there was a lot of posts coming outta SunFest.

Mike Haan: Yes, it's the day and age of cell phone coverage. Energy is palpable as one would say on site. You can feel it from right from the moment that we start ingressing campers to the end of the show. It's such a unique and special vibe, for lack of a better word, just excitement, big smiles everywhere, groups of friends getting together. It's pretty exciting.

Peter McCully: Saturday's lineup features both Jon Pardi and Nate Smith. Two artists, very completely different sounds. I think I have to admit, I'm a Jon Pardi fan. He has that throwback sound and in some ways reminds me of artists like George Strait, who really present themselves well.

Mike Haan: I totally agree, and we are super excited to have Jon Pardi. We've been, full disclosure, trying for years to get him, and it just hasn't lined up. We've heard from our fans many times, we want Jon Pardi, we want Jon Pardi, and when we announced him this year, the response was, as you would expect from a group of fans who have wanted to see him, but I totally agree. I'm really looking forward to that show. And yes, Nate Smith, like you say, it's very different and it's touching on what I was saying, how there's so many different feels within the greater country genre these days. It worked out well with routing, so where he was prior to being at SunFest, he's gonna be coming through Alberta and then he was available. We thought it would be a great addition to the lineup. He was in Victoria last year or two years ago at the Royal Theatre, and people were excited to see him there, so that's carried forward to SunFest.

Peter McCully: Now, one of the artists you have on Sunday is Hannah McFarland. I wanted to talk about her because she's gained acclaim recently for a series of A-list collaborations, including Riley Green's "I Just Need You." She's on Brett Young's "In Case You Didn't Know 2.0," and spent the whole fall on the road as support for Chase Rice and Riley Green.

Mike Haan: You know, Chase Rice was with us last year. We've had Brett as well. Very cool to see Hannah join the ranks of those big stars of the up and comers. And I harken back to my term, the green banana. We booked her when she was just starting out those tours and her popularity is on the rise, so I would encourage people to pay attention to her and definitely not miss her show on the Sunday. It's gonna be great.

Peter McCully: I have to say, I thought it was brilliant, Mike, that you've created a 2026 Spotify playlist featuring the festival artists. That, of course, will help build a connection with the fans before they even get there.

Mike Haan: It's something we started doing a couple years ago. It's a different day and age where you can make these mix tapes and get people excited, have people engage. It's another tool for engagement. It helps people learn about the artists that they may not have been aware of prior to coming to site. They play it throughout the year and it just builds the hype and the excitement for when they actually come to site and they can sing along with the songs and we look forward to building that playlist out as we announce more artists, especially some of the regional ones.

Peter McCully: Now, the island has a really strong country music fan base. What do you suppose it is about the island that just makes it such a fertile ground for a festival like SunFest?

Mike Haan: Country, I think is really accessible to a lot of people and it touches on a lot of other genres. So if somebody's like a traditional classic rock fan, there's a lot of influence in country with classic, that kind of thing. Along with it being accessible, there's a real camping culture and a gathering culture and celebration culture that comes along with country music. So I feel like Islanders love to be outdoors. They love to be together, they love to camp. I think that ties in well to listening to country and being at SunFest.

Peter McCully: To borrow a political term, it's a big umbrella.

Mike Haan: Yes, it is a big umbrella. We see people that wouldn't describe themselves as country music fans that come to SunFest every year and love it. Love the music, love the vibe. Just love the gathering of good people and being outside. And let's be honest, we live in an amazing place. To get to come out to Lake Town Ranch, which I'm obviously very biased, but I think it's a really special place to gather and to see an amazing world-class show. I think Islanders, we have it pretty good here. Good people, good venues, good atmosphere.

Peter McCully: I was gonna ask you, Mike, for someone who's never been to SunFest, how would you describe what makes the festival different from other country music events? But I think you've just summed that up.

Mike Haan: But I would probably add, if you've never been to Lake Town Ranch or Lake Town Amphitheatre, as we call the immediate Bowl area, most festivals that people attend are sort of built up in an existing place and then torn down after. Obviously that's great in certain settings. But what makes Lake Town special is that we keep adding to it every year. We keep paying attention to the surveys we send out, what amenities people wanna see, what food, that sort of thing. But you really have a sense that you're going to an established venue, a world-class place to see a concert, as opposed to going to a soccer field or what have you, or rodeo grounds to see a show. And that resonates with people. We know that based on the feedback we get from folks. So I'd say that's the big difference.

Peter McCully: And being in the same spot every year and getting bigger, there's tons of spinoff for not only the immediate area, but for the expanded area.

Mike Haan: Absolutely. And what we're very proud of is the economic spinoff and the contribution that it makes to this region that we live in and work in. We've done studies, I think we talked about this last year, you're looking at an impact of at least $13 million in direct spending from SunFest alone. There's the multiplier effect to that as well, and return visits from people that have never been to the Cowichan Valley, and then the spinoff as well for regional artists, which, you know, it's hard in this day and age for artists to get seen and listened to. So this is helping these types of events, not just SunFest, but regional events are helping artists as well. So there's a lot of positives to it.

Peter McCully: Just my observation, but since COVID and folks are back out on the road, there seems to be like everybody is back out on the road.

Mike Haan: Yes. The whole economy of music has changed. A lot of these acts with the days of streaming, their fan bases are spread. They're making a lot of their income from touring and merch sales and whatnot. And let's be honest, what's better as an artist? Playing to an excited fan base in a great spot. I would want to be touring like that too if I was a big star.

Peter McCully: Mike, tell us about early bird ticket pricing. It's available just for the next little while.

Mike Haan: So we're gonna be switching to regular pricing just for Valentine's Day. Tickets are, full disclosure, they're flying. We haven't seen an on-sale like this before actually, so we've already had some categories sell out. You hear festivals say this all the time, but I genuinely mean this. I wouldn't sleep on it. If you're planning on coming, there are areas that are selling out and we'll be going to our regular pricing tier Valentine's Day. As always, people can watch our social media. It's at SunFest Country and SunFestconcerts.com if they want more information about the venue and the event and who's playing. And we will be having more artists announced moving forward as well. Mostly regional, but there's lots of exciting acts regionally as well. So encourage people to grab tickets while they're at their cheapest and still available.

Peter McCully: Mike, thanks for joining us today and updating us on SunFest 2026. We'll look forward to it.

Mike Haan: Yes. Pleasure, Peter. Appreciate it. As always.

Dave Graham: Thanks to Mike Haan for joining the Pulse Community. His passion for creating an experience that gets better year after year comes through loud and clear.

Peter McCully: I'm impressed by how they've built SunFest into a world-class event right here on Vancouver Island, and a big part of that is accomplished simply by listening to the people and giving them what they want.

Dave Graham: Giving them what they want. Oh, now you got me thinking about Valentine's Day again. I had been thinking flowers and chocolates, but that's too ordinary. Flowers don't last long, and well neither do chocolates for that matter.

Peter McCully: You'll do fine, Dave. You'll do fine. Just show your care and get something meaningful, something she likes.

Dave Graham: Oh, I wish I'd heard that tip about listening to find out what people want months ago. I'm gonna have to try that. That's solid advice.

Peter McCully: Well, you must have some idea of what she likes.

Dave Graham: Maybe a gift card or cash. Yes, cash. Gotta be good, right?

Peter McCully: I stand corrected. Dave, you have not got a clue.

Dave Graham: An oil change. That car wash. Would that work?

Peter McCully: I can see this is gonna take a minute, folks. So thanks for joining us. Remember, the Pulse Community Podcast is available on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok and YouTube. We're also on Facebook and Instagram.

Dave Graham: Maybe I could cook something. A pie, shepherd's pie. There we go. I could make some shepherd's pie and draw a heart on it in ketchup. That's romantic, right?

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics, all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.