Popular Jazz Festival means a busy week for businesses in Halifax

HALIFAX, NS — Local restaurants are preparing for an influx of customers as the 2023 Halifax Jazz Festival kicks off this week.

This year’s festival promises to be more popular than previous years’ events, with standard and deluxe passes selling out Friday night. (Individual event tickets are still available.)

While the main acts take to the main stage on the Halifax waterfront, many restaurants and bars partner with the festival to host smaller shows of their own.

“You get more customers, people who come to the door and see if they can get a table… and then you get music lovers, people who come here to listen to jazz,” says Heather Rankin, co-owner of Obladee winebar.

The wine bar on Barrington has been a partner venue for several years and hosts jazz performances for customers as they dine. Rankin says she’s used to seeing more traffic during the festival, whether customers come for the food or the music.

But Obladee doesn’t just present jazz at its annual festival; it hosts weekly jazz evenings. So for Rankin, there’s an incentive to give customers a taste of the jazz experience so they come back for more.

“Jazz is a unique experience here,” she said. “I just hope we get a lot of people who are interested in jazz and want to keep it alive.”

Some local bars are debuting as Jazz Fest hosts.

Kyo Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant on Barrington Street that focuses on Japanese cuisine and drinks, is preparing for its first partner shows. Like Obladee, Kyo regularly hosts a jazz night and hopes to get some new regulars over the next week.

“I think jazz is for everyone, so I’m excited about literally every part of it,” says restaurant manager Emily Pickett.

Kyo has a relatively small space for customers — it can seat 35 people at a time — but Pickett said that’s part of its appeal.

“We quite like the busy effect jazz brings to our busy nights,” she said. “It really increases the energy. … At the same time, it’s a little bit more of an intimate experience.

Other companies collaborate with the Jazz Festival in various ways.

As part of the Friends of the Festival program, local cafes, restaurants and bakeries have discounts and special offers for those with tickets to the musical event. Customers must show their tickets when ordering and request special items or discounts to receive them.

While the sold-out shows and increased attendance are good for business, Rankin is just happy to see jazz thriving in the city.

“You really have to put in the work to keep jazz alive; celebrate the local musicians who play it, give them a place to play, allow them to play their music their way so people can listen to it and appreciate it… to make our city a vibrant, exciting place to live live,” she said.

The festival kicks off Tuesday and runs through July 16. For more information about the events, visit the official website.