Record Fair spinning classic tunes in Halifax

The Halifax Record Fair has been in circulation for over a decade, and aficionados will rejoice as it hits the city again this weekend.

“It’s a semi-annual event that brings together record enthusiasts from around the Atlantic region and beyond to buy and sell their collections.” said event organizer Kevin Beal in an email.

He owns Black Buffalo Records, which puts on the event. It’s an underground hip-hop label in Halifax.

“We specialize in physical releases of vinyl, CD, and cassettes. We started as a retail brick and mortar in 2010 and transitioned into a label in 2016.” He said. They’ve done releases from Aquakultre, Ghettosocks, Buck 65, Thrust OG and more over the last few years.

They head up the popular record fair, which began in 2011 with 20 vendors over 40 tables.

“We have remained steady at that level. Over the years, we tried to expand and affiliate with other events and festivals,” he said. “But we found that in only distracted from the records fair, and we have kept the focus on the record-collecting community.”

The record fair was originally started due to a personal experience that Beal and partner Phil MacDonald had.

“We needed to fill that local demand for a record fair. The closest fair at the time was in Moncton, N.B.,” he said. “We didn’t like that long commute for records, and we just decided to start our own right here.”

The attendees in the years since seem to agree with the importance of the long-time event in Halifax.

“Since 2011, we have had a very strong response from the public. We would not be still doing this 11 years later unless the public supported us,” he said.

While COVID-19 left them with no events in 2020 or 2021, they already came back with a great event this year.

“Our spring fair back in May was our first show since COVID and it was very well attended,” said Beal.

They’re at the Halifax Forum again this year, a venue they enjoy. There will be all-vinyl DJ sets from Black Buffalo and DJ Moves and refreshments.

“The venue is ideal because it is centrally located in the HRM and there is ample free parking,” he said. “The entrance is ground level so it's very convenient for our vendors to load their collection in as well.”

Beal says records – like all collectables – are very important to a core community.

“The community will keep active even when the collectable has fallen out of fashion. That
core community will introduce that collectable to a new generations and pass along the tradition,” he said.

“With records, there is also a huge amount of nostalgia that is tied to the music itself, and the best way to connect with that nostalgia is through the media it is produced on. People are
not so much buying the record as they are connecting to a past memory.”

The Halifax Record Fair is Saturday, November 12, 2022. It runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Halifax Forum on Windsor Street. Admission is $5.