Charlottetown hopes to push more shows to Event Grounds

Charlottetown City Council wants most big events to go to the Event Grounds.

Council voted unanimously to support new guidelines for concerts and other festivals. The guidelines say events with more than 1,000 people will be directed to thegrounds, although council can make exceptions.

It's been a quiet year for the newer venue, which is hoping to drum up more business.

Shania Twain sang there on her Charlottetown stop last year, drawing 25,000. But it's held no events this summer.

The Charlottetown Area Development Corporation owns the site.

"We had hoped that we would see a significant amount of activity on the site," said general manager Ron Waite. "A little bit of frustration on our part when some of the Canada Day celebrations and some of the bigger summer concerts were being held in other venues."

Too low a cap?

Mayor Clifford Lee said it's a good move.

"There's always been a question: where does an event happen? Is it Confederation Landing Park? Is it Victoria Park? Or is it the EventGrounds?" he said.

"This past Canada Day, it became quite evident that the event that took place at Confederation Landing probably should have happened at the EventGrounds."

Mark Fisher of Shift organized this year's Canada Day celebration and he thinks the 1,000 cap might be too low.

"Three to 5,000 down here at the Confederation Landing Park is absolutely within means of its size," he said.

He hopes the city will still consider events case by case, but he does plan to move Canada Day events to the Event Grounds.

The CADC spent $3 million to develop the site; about half of that was from federal and provincial grants.

The Shellfish Festival is setting up on the Event Grounds now for their upcoming festival.

Users pay between $1,000 and $5,000, or a percentage of ticket sales, to use the grounds.