A brand new music festival will take over the grounds of the Sussex Drive-In this summer.

Sussex Fundy Fest is slated to take place July 21 and 22, officials announced on Tuesday.

It is a collaboration between the drive-in, The Mule Bar & Grill, and Kick’n It East Entertainment.

“Since we purchased the campground in 2019, it was always our goal to do something with the drive-in other than show movies,” said Don Monahan, co-owner of the Sussex KOA Campground and Drive-In.

“We’ve had some success in doing some live shows at the drive-in and we said let’s try to make it work.”

The drive-in held a number of live shows in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic measures kept people out of movie theatres and live shows at indoor venues.

Monahan said they took a break last year so they could plan for this year’s inaugural music festival.

“We’ll put Sussex on the map in a period of time in July when we’re in between other festivals,” he said.

The headlining performers this year are Jess Moskaluke on Friday night and Blackjack Billy on Saturday night.

They will be joined by Ben Chase, Riley Taylor, The Mainlanders, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Ivan Daigle, Mike Biggar, Kevin Chase, and Ava + Lily.

“There’s going to be a stage just to the left of the big screen. When it becomes dusk, we’ll show the headliners on the big screen,” said Monahan.

Organizers believe they will have no problem attracting at least 1,500 people for the music festival.

The music will start at 6 p.m. on the Friday and 3 p.m. on the Saturday.

Tickets went on sale Wednesday morning. You can get a weekend pass for $90 plus fees until April 15; after that, it will cost $120.

Individual day passes cost $70 for Friday and $80 for Saturday.

VIP passes are also available for $100 on Friday, $120 on Satuday, and $200 for both nights. They include front stage access, private washrooms & private bar area.

More details can be found through Eventbrite by clicking here.