WHY I BUILT
HIGHWATER
SHOW HALL

BY BEN MURPHY

Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and the reason is simple: my mom Kathy.

She always had music playing around the house. She encouraged us to pick up instruments (and fail!), and she absolutely loves to dance. She never made music feel like a lesson or a chore. She made it feel like something alive. That stuck with me in a way I didn’t fully understand until much later in life.

I started gravitating toward country music in my teens. So, when my old hockey coach offered me the chance to work at the first Cavendish Beach Music Festival in my early twenties, I didn’t hesitate. It felt like an opportunity tailor-made for a kid from Prince Edward Island who loved music and didn’t quite know what to do with that yet. That one decision set the course for everything that followed.

I spent the better part of 15 years with the festival; full time, part time, learning the business from the inside out. Then COVID hit, and with it came an opportunity that was equal parts terrifying and obvious: the chance to buy out the two remaining founders who were in the later stages of their careers. I took it. I mean, who wouldn’t want to acquire a venue and a festival for 20,000 people at a moment when you couldn’t visit your friends without six feet of air between you?

The first order of business was bringing Cavendish Beach Music Festival back in 2022. I’ll never forget day one of taking over and making a decision to submit our biggest offer ever; Luke Combs. The second was creating Sommo – a new festival designed to weave together local food, local producers, and world-class music on the most beautiful island in the country. Now we’re on to the third chapter, and it’s the biggest one yet.

One of the advantages we’ve always had over other festivals is that we own our grounds. That matters financially, but it matters more creatively. Owning the land means we can invest in something you can’t rent or borrow: a genuine sense of place. We’ve been building that in Cavendish for eighteen years, and it shows.

Cavendish also happens to be personal. It’s where I met my wife, Ally Mae. It’s where we got engaged. It feels like the place where the biggest moments of my life have unfolded. Building something here isn’t just a business decision, it’s a way of giving back to the community that’s given so much to me and creating something meaningful for the people who live here and the guests who come to visit.

That’s what led us to Highwater Show Hall.

There is no venue like this on Prince Edward Island. There wasn’t one anywhere in the Maritimes. And I kept asking myself: why not? Why should you have to leave the region or the country to see a once-in-a-lifetime show in an intimate, purpose-built space? Why can’t that happen here?

Highwater holds between 1,500 and 2,000 people. It’s open-air, built across three levels, with no bad seats. It’s big enough to attract serious artists, and intimate enough that you’ll feel like you’re catching every word. It was designed as a home for the artists you love and the discoveries you’ll brag about hearing first. It’s a gathering place for music and culture on the
Island, where local identity is celebrated, independent promoters are supported, and every show brings people together. We’ll program it across three seasons, keeping the energy alive well beyond the summer months.

None of this happens without people who believe in it.

Independent promoters and local operators aren’t just running shows, they’re building communities. They’re the ones taking the risk, staying up late, making the calls that the big players won’t bother with. When you buy a ticket from a local promoter, you’re not just getting access to a great show, you’re investing in the kind of place you want to live in. You’re saying that world-class experiences belong here, on this island, not just in Toronto or Nashville or New York.

But there’s something even bigger at stake. Live music isn’t a luxury, it’s essential. There is nothing quite like standing shoulder to shoulder with a stranger and realizing you both know every word. That moment of shared feeling, that silent agreement between two people who’ve never met — it matters more than we give it credit for. In a world where we spend more and more time alone, staring at screens, sorting ourselves into separate corners, live events are one of the last places where we genuinely come together. We don’tdo enough of it. We need more reasons to show up, look up, and be present with each other. Highwater Show Hall is meant to be that reason.

My mom put on music in our living room because she believed it mattered. She was right. Music brings people together in a way nothing else can. It marks moments. It creates memories. It turns a Tuesday night in Cavendish into something you’ll talk about for years.

That’s why we built Highwater Show Hall. Stay tuned for the first dance.