The potential for a service disruption on the Gulf run is of particular concern to a local concert promoter.

Next month’s Churchill Park Music Festival has a star-studded lineup from the Chicks and Keith Urban, to Matchbox Twenty and Kesha.

Promoter Pete Quinton says any suggestion of a potential disruption in Marine Atlantic service is a concern, so they’re putting together contingencies in the event of a strike or lockout.

“We’re already working in the background to try to solve some issues with how we can divert if we need to, and things like that.”

In the meantime, Quinton is among those who would welcome increased capacity and lower rates on the Marine Atlantic run.

“I really wish the government would solve that issue properly,” says Quinton.

“Getting the logistics of that ferry, dealing with wind delays, expense, you deter a number of artists from coming here….then we have our sound and lighting gear, five trucks coming in with that; they need to cross (on) the ferry,  so it’s all a concern.”