Great Lakes Jam   Aug. 27-29, 2004
BALACLAVA, ONTARIO, NEAR OWEN SOUND AND MEAFORD

BAND SCHEDULE   (Click act to see event photos) Friday Aug. 27, 2004 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM Classic Albums Live 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Rick Derringer 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM Spencer Davis 10:00 PM - 11:30 PM Creedence Clearwater Revisited Saturday Aug. 28, 2004 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Tin Man and the Flying Monkeys 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM Eric Burdon & The Animals 4:15 PM - 5:30 PM Cheap Trick 6:00 PM - 7:15 PM Kim Mitchell 7:45 PM - 9:00 PM Johnny Winter 9:30 PM - 11:00 PM Joe Walsh Sunday Aug. 28, 2004 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM Brian Howe (Bad Company) 3:00 - 4:15 PM Blue Oyster Cult 4:45 PM - 6:00 PM Steppenwolf 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM B-52s 8:15 PM - 9:45 PM Alice Cooper

THREE DAYS OF ROCK IN RURAL GREY COUNTY Special thanks to photo contributors Russell Graham and Chris Davis. Site went live May 2, 2020. Webmaster : steve@stevebriggs.com.

FESTIVAL BACKGROUND: It's hard to believe, but once there was a full-on ROCK FESTIVAL in Balaclava, of all places. Balaclava is a tiny community in the municipality of Meaford in Grey County, Ontario, Canada. It is about 17 kilometres northwest of the centre of Meaford and 18 kilometres northeast of the city of Owen Sound, about 2.5 kilometres inland of Owen Sound. See map at bottom. The Great Lakes Jam got its start in the late 1990s, with landowner Steward Madill's failed attempt to open a casino on his 92-hectare parcel of land over looking Georgian Bay, near Owen Sound. During the casino bid, Madill consulted with concert producer Wolfgang Siebert about entertainment.

The casino bid narrowly lost in a referendum, but Siebert was so impressed with the site - which, along with the hill, boasts a natural amphitheatre - that he joined forces with Madill to get permits to run concerts there. "We made sure we went through all the hoops to get all the proper licensing," Madill said, in between pumping gas at his Dairy Daughter station in Markdale, 40 kilometres to the south. Executive producer Wolfgang Siebert said he spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on site improvements before booking an impressive first lineup. Siebert and three Chinese partners raised $3 million from investors to stage four annual classic rock concerts.

In late August 2004, they staged the three-day rock festival on top of Coffin Hill. Close to 15,000 people attended. The 168 hectares (415 acres) of rolling hills of the main site had camping, washroom, and shower facilities. Part of the proceeds of the event were to go to the Grey County Cattlemen's Association as well as St. John Ambulance, which was building a new training centre and office called the Ed Tottenham House in Owen Sound. Siebert's plan was to stage three more annual concerts at the site each summer. However, in Feb. 2005, the local community blocked his plans.