Saint John will host the very first Air Guitar Canada East Coast Regional Qualifier on the Area 506 Village stage, May 16, 2026.
The event became a possibility after a member of Area 506 came across the non-profit’s website last year.
“We are always on the lookout for interesting events to bring to Saint John to put on stage in the waterfront container village,” said Sarah Tippett, director of marketing and events for Area 506.
At the time, Air Guitar Canada’s nationals had already happened, so a plan was made to add them to the schedule for 2026.
“The dates of the nationals are just after the container village opens for the season, so the timing is great that we could have the regional qualifier for the east coast on opening weekend,” said Tippett.
The event is free to attend and has sign-up details available here.
Air Guitar Canada has been around for quite some time, but this most recent chapter began in 2014. One of its early champions, a silver medalist in 2002, went to middle school with the colleague who discovered Air Guitar Canada’s website, according to Tippett.
Co-director of Air Guitar Canada, Genevieve Leblanc, otherwise known as “The Phoenix”, is an air guitar champion themselves, having taken home the 2017 Canadian National Air Guitar Champion title. After the victory, Leblanc took on the role as co-director in 2019.
She says the team at Air Guitar Canada was excited to hear from Area 506.
“We can only go as far as our little gas tanks can take us and we’re a 100% volunteer-ran organization, so we’ve always partnered with regional organizers in different parts of the country to really give that coast-to-coast experience, and this year we’re so excited to partner with Area 506 so that we can have some east coast representation for the first time,” said Leblanc.
They hope that the qualifier brings new competition to the Toronto Air Guitar National Championships on May 23.
“The championships will have representatives from all of our regional championships across the country and will have even more of that Canadian flavour, and we hope that even more organizers get involved,” said Leblanc. “We don’t have any representation from the prairies this year, we’ve had it in the past, we’d love to have it again. We truly want this to be an experience that is about bringing Canadians together.”
The mission of air guitar is about bringing people together in world peace. Leblanc says the motto with air guitar is that “when you are holding an air guitar, you cannot be holding a gun”, which they say was inspired by two high school students in Finland who had to answer the question, “how would you create world peace?”
“In Canada, we’re the only ones who turn that into a charitable initiative. All of our events around the country are raising money for charitable causes, our charity partner this year is Food Banks Canada,” said Leblanc. “The more events we have, the more good that we can do, but also the more diversity we can celebrate within this great country.”
Whoever wins the national championships will strum their way to Finland to compete in the Air Guitar World Championships. Leblanc said that could be you.
“Picture it: you get up on stage at Area 506, you show out as yourself and let yourself be taken over by the music … then you get to have the rockstar experience of being flown out to Toronto and doing it again with all these people from across Canada. If you are the champion, then you would be our first ever east coast champion, and then you would get to represent all of Canada in Finland with representatives from all over the world who participate in the world championships,” said Leblanc.
Only one other Canadian has won the title, Zachary “Ichabod Fame” Knowles, having done so in 2024.
For more information about the event, visit Air Guitar Canada’s website or Area 506’s Facebook page.
