(Charlottetown, PE – April 6, 2009) – The Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights has grown from Canada’s largest weekend Canada Day Celebration east of Ottawa to a full week long event.  This year’s Festival will take place June 27th – July 4th on the Historic Charlottetown Waterfront with what promises to be an impressive collaboration of family fun, multi-cultural events, and to finish off the week, the concert series proudly supported by the Delta Prince Edward.

Premier Robert Ghiz notes, "We are all looking forward to yet another successful Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights and the Province of Prince Edward Island is pleased to be a contributing sponsor for the 14th Annual."  He adds, “given that we’re celebrating Canada’s birthday in Prince Edward Island, we think it’s only appropriate that the festival be held on the Historic Charlottetown Waterfront. This year's Festival celebrations will be filled with exceptional talent and experiences for everyone, no matter what age or interest."

From June 27th – July 1st the Historic Charlottetown Waterfront will be transformed into fun for the whole family with all the Festival favourites returning. Atlantic Superstore Petting Zoo, Peakes Quay Strongman Competition, Children’s Village presented by Northumberland Ferries Ltd., busker, free afternoon concerts on June 27th and 28th and the 10 Hour FREE Concert for Canada presented by Century 21 Colonial Realty on July 1st.  The Canada Day finale will be the largest musical fireworks extravaganza in Atlantic Canada, sponsored by WestJet. NEW activities on the waterfront for the Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights are: Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion, SportyKids Fitness, activities with the 2009 Canada Games Host Society, a Confederation Centre of the Arts Young Company performance, Always on Stage live music entertainment, and more. All these activities are FREE for families to enjoy.

“Charlottetown is a community with a shared vision of being one of the finest places to visit in Canada and each day our vision is becoming a reality. That vision starts with creating and maintaining a quality of life for our residents and our visitors. Charlottetown also supports quality, family-oriented events and activities. This year’s Festival of Lights is bound to please everyone as the Program serves to promote family oriented activities and programming for local and visiting families to Canada’s Birthplace City”, say Clifford Lee, Mayor for Charlottetown. “I encourage each and every citizen of this City to come out and take part in this year’s events”.

July 2nd Tourism Charlottetown and the Prince Edward Island Convention Partnership are proud to feature the official debut of the PEI Sound & Light Show – Celebrate the Canadian Dream - Voices From the Island.  Become captivated with our culture, heritage, provincial and national symbols.  The Sound and Light show will take place off the backdrop of Province House – National Historic Site and will run daily at 9:30pm from July to September.

The Concert Series proudly supported by the Delta Prince Edward, gets underway on the evening of Friday, July 3rd, with Canadian indie rock band, Two Hours Traffic. Nominated for Best Alternative Album of the Year at the 2007 ECMA’s, Prince Edward Island's own Two Hours Traffic will open for Theory of a Deadman. Travelling across the country from Vancouver to Charlottetown, also headlining is Juno Award Winning - Theory of a Deadman.  To date, they have a total of 5 top 10 hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart, and two #1 singles at Active Rock in America (So Happy & Bad Girlfriend). Rounding out the night is Simple Plan. Simple Plan graced the Juno Awards stage March 29 and will headline the Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights, Friday, July 3rd. Their two albums sold seven million copies worldwide.

On Saturday, July 4th the night begins with another Island great, Paper Lions, destined to be your new favourite band to see live. Paper Lions have earned regional and national awards including: Touring Artist of the Year from the Canadian Arts Presenters Organization and Pop Recording of the Year from the East Coast Music Awards. Following Paper Lions on the line-up is Orianthi, a talented guitarist who has played support for many great acts like Steve Vai, ZZ Top and Carrie Underwood. She recently completed the recording of her first US release with Grammy nominated producer Howard Benson and will perform for the first time in Charlottetown at the 14th Annual Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights.

Marianas Trench will then take the stage. This band has elevated itself above the rest of the pack with its 2006 debut, Fix Me, that showcased a knack for colouring outside the lines of factory-issue millennial punk, shrewdly-built pop, and super-adrenalized modern rock. Marianas Trench has followed up their debut CD with the recent release of Masterpiece Theatre and currently recently had the #1 video in Canada for ‘Cross My Heart’. American rockers Daughtry will dominate the CTV stage Saturday night rounding out the Concert Series proudly supported by the Delta Prince Edward. The four time-platinum juggernaut that is Daughtry has hovered in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 Albums since its release.  A hit on more than four continents, the self-titled album has already earned platinum status four times in the U.S. and in Canada two times, plus gold certification in Singapore, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, to name a few. Daughtry is also the first rock band release in nearly 20 years - since Bon Jovi's 1988 classic New Jersey - to hit the top spot after debuting below #1.

Tourism Charlottetown & the Prince Edward Island Convention Partnership President Doug Newson states “We are very excited about this year's Atlantic Superstore Festival of Lights. By extending this year's festival to a week long event filled with free family programming from June 27th to Canada Day and finishing off with our outstanding Concert Series line up on July 3rd and 4th. There will be something exciting for all ages at this year's festival. We welcome everyone to join us on the Historic Charlottetown Waterfront to take part in the celebrations”. Newson also adds, “We are just as excited about our social media marketing campaign and social networking groups, and our pre-Concert Series webisodes, FOL Rock Talk; Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. These are the perfect mediums to stay intimate with festival fans.”

For the latest chat about the Concert Series become a Festival of Lights Facebook Fan, follow us on www.twitter.com/festivallights, or watch us on www.youtube.com/festivaloflightspei . For further details about the festival call the Aliant Festival Hotline at 1-800-955-1864 or visit www.festivaloflightspei.com.

For the first time in Festival history VIP Passes are now available to the general public.  Licensed weekend VIP passports are only $199 and un-licensed weekend VIP passports are only $139, both are subject to taxes and a $2 service fee.  General admission weekend passports are only $79 plus taxes and a $2 service fee. Passports include admission to two nights of concerts, 7 amazing acts. Individual tickets to each night’s concert are $42 plus taxes and a $2 service fee.

Passports and Tickets are NOW available online at www.charlottetowntickets.com  and by telephoning the Aliant Festival Hotline 1-800-955-1864.  Passports go on sale at participating Atlantic Superstores across the Maritimes; and at the Charlottetown Visitor’s Centre inside Founders’ Hall on Friday April 24th.