Previous recipients include Victoria Native Friendship Centre, Mustard Seed Food Bank, and more
Photo by Eden Conti.
The fifth annual Victoria Records Fair (VRF) was held at the Fernwood Community Centre on Nov. 1 in support of UVic’s own community radio station, CFUV 101.9 FM.
The hosts and founders of the fair, Brain Lunger and Jason Flower, created the VRF in 2022 when they wanted to start up the record fair scene again post-COVID 19.
“We like the music community. We don’t need to make any money off of it,” said Lunger. “We are happy to donate our time.”
A small entry fee is required for attendees, unless they are children, with the option to pay $30 to get early entrance. All money raised from tickets, record sales, table rentals, vendor sales, and additional donations is given to the chosen charity.
Originally the fair was not intended to be a benefit, but they saw a need to fundraise for refugees and newcomers in Canada who were fleeing Ukraine. Since 2022, the proceeds have been donated to the Newcomers Fund of the St Nicholas Ukrainian Church of Victoria, the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, The Mustard Seed Food Bank, the Victoria Humane Society, and now CFUV.
Lunger says that they aim to support “different community organizations that we think most people can get behind and are doing good work in the community.”
The VRF is well received by the community, and has had a good turnout over the years. There is even a waitlist for vendors as the initial sign-up sold out quickly.
Lunger himself was on air with CFUV for about 13 years, back when the station first started up in 1984, and was happy to offer them support — especially since CFUV had helped promote the VRF in previous years.
“It’s honestly amazing to know that there are other organizations in town that support us,” said CFUV station manager Rowan Grice. “It’s awesome to feel that love.”
CFUV plans to put the money towards updating their equipment and finishing renovations to their studio spaces. Some money will also be put towards technical programs, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, that contribute to the station’s programming.
“We want to offer better resources to students and community members, and any way we can do that is a huge win,” said Grice.
The VRF offers a special opportunity for music lovers to come together and share and engage with physical forms of music. This element of the fair particularly excites Grice.
“It’s awesome to come to something like this, where you’re around a bunch of music lovers and a bunch of people in the community who are passionate about music and about collecting,” he said. “Being able to actually be in a space with people and talk to them and learn from one another is really awesome.”
Lunger has a similar idea as someone who has been in the collecting scene since the ‘80s and was bit early on by the “collector bug.” At present, Lunger has thousands of items in his personal collection which continues to grow.
“It’s something that’s been a part of my life for a long time. I really enjoy being around other people who are passionate about music,” said Lunger. “I’ve never been a musician myself but I’ve always been a good supporter of music and the music community.”
The VRF sees vendors from all over Vancouver Island and had hundreds of attendees this year. While they have yet to begin plans for next year’s fair, it’s clear that people are already looking forward to it.
“Being in a space like that … is community and music in action in a really awesome way. Those spaces are becoming less supported,” said Grice. “But, when there’s an event like this it’s really cool to gather and be able to meet one another and talk about music.”
Although they stumbled into hosting this annual affair, Lunger and Flower don’t plan on giving it up any time soon. “We get a really good feeling every time we do it,” said Lunger. “Helping out with these local organizations, that’s all the payment we need.”
