The first concert ever held at West Fraser Centre did not break even, but it did break ground.
The first attempt at turning Quesnel’s premier hockey rink into a special events facility fell short by 90 ticket sales. However, the country band The Reklaws successfully sold 867 tickets and on the August long weekend, at that, when a great many potential concert-goers are unavailable.
These facts were presented in a post-concert report to the Cariboo Regional District / City of Quesnel North Cariboo Joint Advisory Committee.
“One of the objectives of holding the event was to determine whether or not it was feasible to host concerts at the West Fraser Centre and whether or not further investments in event infrastructure were warranted,” said the report, compiled by Jeff Norburn, the director of Community Services for the City of Quesnel.
Norburn told The Observer that, “There are no plans for anything now, but we will get some direction about if we want to do this again or if it was a one-time event.”
City council and the joint advisory committee will be respectively meeting in October to discuss this topic.
“I think anytime you host an event, you learn things you can apply to the next similar event you host,” said Norburn, but the question still dangles about should it be done again?
Financial risk is the primary reason to stay out of the event hosting sector. No business model can sustain financial losses time after time. However, no event promoter looks at one event in isolation as a basis for a business decision. The Reklaws event earned a substantial grant, on the one hand, which reduced the risk. On the other hand, that may not happen again. On yet another hand, a different band or comedian or cultural event on a different calendar date would have its own ticket sales “weather system.”
Other factors a municipality has to consider, when the venue is owned by the taxpayer, is how to maximize the value of that expensive building, and how to use that building to have an impact on lifestyle. Retaining and attracting residents is really the most important job of any municipal asset.
“We are hoping there will be private concert promoters who would come in assuming the risk, and we would basically just rent the facility out. That wasn’t happening, so we decided to take the initiative to host a concert ourselves,” Norburn said. If the personnel involved in the broader event industry get hands-on familiarity with West Fraser Centre and the Quesnel people involved, that might stimulate the private sector to pencil Quesnel into their tour plans.
A government-owned facility also has another way to gauge success: economic spinoff. The first West Fraser Centre event fell about $5,700 short in cash at the door, but that is not the only way money changed hands in a way that benefits the local taxpayer.
First, people from outside of Quesnel attended the show, representing what’s called “first dollar” economic spinoff, or money that never would have been spent in Quesnel any other way.
Additionally, at least some “local multiplier effect” was accomplished, or money released by local people into their own economy that would not have been spent in quite that way, or in those amounts (such as paying a babysitter, having dinner at a restaurant, buying a new pair of jeans, meeting friends for drinks before the show, etc.).
Furthermore - although it is almost impossible to measure but has to be assumed to some degree - the “local budget retention” effect would also be in play, meaning some of those local concert-goers spent their money here in Quesnel instead of going to some other town for adventure or entertainment.
In any of those three economic scenarios - first dollar, local multiplier or budget retention - those Quesnel businesses that received that money then, in turn, spend their dollars on local staff, local goods, local services and it ripples across the Quesnel economy. The concert was the reason the local business community got that shot in the arm.
Furthermore, when money is spent by a municipal promoter of an event, much of the money needed to pull it off goes into the pockets of local security guards, first aid attendants, ticket takers, janitorial staff, and a plethora of other local spending. That money, too, circulates in the local economy. It is not necessarily “lost” as much as it is just moved around.
One thing not in dispute was the entertainment value of the West Fraser Centre debut show. In a town with a sizable country music fan base, hosting The Reklaws - irrefutably one of the country’s top country acts - was a win, even for Norburn.
“My wife and I went. We’re not big country music fans, but I thought The Reklaws put on a good show, and the crowd really had a lot of energy and I thought everybody who came had a great time.”
READ MORE: Reklaws crank the country anthems in Quesnel