Line Spike - A Neighbour's Perspective

Gregg and Adele Hamelin | Jul 17, 2025

Over the last couple of week’s I’ve watched and read all the articles and news casts on the Line Spike concert and Jeremy Campbell.  Some complimentary and others not so much. 

Let me give you another perspective.  My wife and I own the almost 200 year old house that is surrounded by the concert grounds. My nephew owns the concert land.  He came to us in late March and explained that Frontenac Council had approved a two day concert for June 28 and 29.  He had connected with a production company, headed by Jeremy Campbell, that was going to organize and run the event.  Given that we had retired here nine years ago, to the ancestral home of my wife, and we had just completed a major renovation on the old house we were obviously apprehensive. 

The following day we met Jeremy and he walked us through his plan.  He had done a good job of keeping foot traffic and vehicles away from our residence.  He also indicated that he would have police and security personnel onsite for the entire weekend.  We were still hesitant but willing to give him and my nephew the benefit of the doubt.  We also knew what to expect.  You see, my wife and I lived in Ottawa for forty years after meeting in University.  We raised three boys and during the final decade in the capital city we bought the entire family tickets to Bluesfest every year.  We knew what to expect of a music festival in a field.

Over the next twelve weeks we talked to Jeremy every 3^rd or 4^th day.  He kept us informed and updated as he had to downscale the event from 25,000 to 15,000 to less than 10,000 fans. He reduced the number of stages from two to one, changed from running one artist after the other on alternate stages to running one stage and having a break between each artist.  He moved the single stage to the field beside our house instead of in the lower fields and he redirected foot traffic from the parking fields to go around behind us.  He had to significantly reduce the amount of privacy fencing and the number of portable washrooms.  He provided us with the initial and the changing site diagrams, and activity plans for the final week.  He sent letters to all our neighbours advising them of the heavy equipment that would be coming down Harrowsmith Road and onto the property on the week of June 23 – 27.

Let me sum up by telling you what I saw and what I didn’t see.  To most people this was just a music festival that they came to, listened to and enjoyed the performances.  In a previous life I was a Project Manager and a Risk Manager, so to me this was far from just a two day event.

I saw a huge, logistical project with literally hundreds of activities executed pretty well flawlessly to make this event happen. 

I saw close to four thousand people over the course of the weekend who experienced some great artists, watched some fantastic shows and listened to some awesome music. 

I saw dozens of volunteers in orange shirts, security personnel in yellow shirts and crew in black shirts, everywhere – all day and night.

I saw the setup of fences and volunteer stations to check people in, remove anything that could be considered a weapon and keep the artists (and the rest of us) safe. 

I saw local businesses either step up and help out or get ready in expectation of more business, which unfortunately didn’t materialize as the numbers fell.  Revell Ford provided drivers and vehicles to ferry artists in and out of hotels.  Trousdale’s General Store freshened up their store front and ordered new awnings.  Prime Takeout was prepared to provide late night meals for the crew and security personnel.  Lenny’s Deli hosted one group of artists but was prepared for more.  Three volunteers spend hours finding and purchasing a myriad of food and speciality items for the artists for before and after their sets.

I’m not going to comment on the documentation, permits and liquor license other than to say that the amount of time and documentation that I saw the event team spend on this seemed excessive.

What I didn’t see was anyone being ejected for unruly or belligerent behaviour.  What I didn’t see was any police or ambulance services called for any reason.  To my knowledge there were only two minor medical episodes which were dealt with by volunteer medical staff. 

And, there was no foot traffic through our yard, no lost souls banging on my door after midnight and we got to attend some great shows.