Line Spike Frontenac Loses Liquor License at the Last Minute - selling bottled water to recoup losses

Jemma Dooreleyers and Jeff Green | Jun 28, 2025

As the result of losing the ability to sell liquor at this weekends Line Spike Frontenac Festival at the Day farm on the Harrowsmith-Sydenham Road, orgnisers have taken an unusual step.

Festivalgoers have been informed that they can bring alcoholic beverages with them to the music festival, as long as they are not in glass, but that the festival has taken the unusual move to not allow outside water into the festival.

“As an attempt to help recover some of our expected losses [from the loss of alcohol sales], we are selling water through our vendors. We fully see the ridiculousness of having an event where you are allowed to bring in alcohol but not water... but again, this is a direct result of the Township's last minute renegging of supporting this safe project,” said Festival organiser Jeremy Campbell in an email to ticket holders on Saturday morning.

This decision by Line Spike is the latest impact of a series of events related to the liquor license for Line Spike.

Jeremy Campbell, posted an emotional statement on Facebook on Thursday (June 26) about a last minute decision by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission (AGCO) to revoke the festival's liquor license after hearing from South Frontenac Township on Thursday morning.

 Frontenac News caught up with Campbell on Friday evening, while he was completing preparations for the weekend, to discuss why this might have happened and what implications the festival now faces because of it.

In order to get an approval for a liquor license for an event of Line Spike's scale, part of the application process includes receiving a "Letter of Municipal Significance" to give to the AGCO. Campbell said that he began this process on March 19, but due to multiple set backs and the first South Frontenac Council meeting of June getting postponed, the matter did not get to council until June 10^th. At that meeting, council unanimously approved a motion declaring Line Spike a “Signifigant Event”, and Line Spike applied for and received a license from the AGCO.

Campbell said that it is not a requirement for emergency services to be on the property, in order for the event to be licensed.

However, according to township officials, the “significant event” designation only came about after a plan was agreed to by Campbell along with a “control group” that the township established in order to address safety concerns since Line Spike – Frontenac was proposing to hold a larger scale event than any previously held in the township.

“The Township provided a municipally significant event designation on June 10th for the Line Spike Frontenac event based on a plan and commitments provided by the event organizer that were reviewed by an event group comprised of various agencies such as the various Township departments, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Cataraqui Region Conservation Area (CRCA), Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), KFL&A health, the County of Frontenac and Frontenac paramedic services. The provided plan and commitments came after months of discussions between the group and the event organizer. The event organizer understood the importance of these commitments from the beginning,” said a township media release this morning (Saturday, June 28)

South Frontenac Council met in an emergency in camera meeting this past Wednesday, June 25, and after an in camera discussion, they passed a motion rescinding the significant event designation.

“Earlier this week, significant changes were made to this plan removing many of the original commitments which led to the reassessment of the designation. After discussion with the event organizer along with the event group, the municipally significant event designation was revoked by the Township on Wednesday June 25^th, said the media release regading the matter

Campbell sited budget constraints due to liquor vendors pulling out of the event due to the time it took to obtain a license as the reason he decided not to engage the South Frontenac Fire Department, Frontenac Paramedic Services, or the OPP.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission informed Jeremy Campbell that the liquor license had been revoked, on Thursday, June 26 2025 by OPP.

Although Campbell is disappointed and anxious about what might happen if there is unregulated alcohol consumption at the event, he said that he hopes that the rocky start will not put a damper on the weekend.

"This event is about positivity and coming together as Canadians to celebrate Canada, " he said. "I don't want anyone else to shoulder this, I just want people to have a good time."

“This has been a long time in the making and a lot of great people have put a lot of free labour into bringing you some of Canada's finest recording artists. We've had to pivot and change a lot of things at the very last minute - so please bare with us if this isn't the smoothest running operation you've ever experienced in your life... but it will be a LOT of fun,” he added.