Rock Island a success that should be repeated
Editorial appeared in Fort McMurray Today August 1, 2006.
Please, may we have more?
Last weekend's Rock Island event on MacDonald Island was a huge success by almost any measure.
Tickets were sold out and the line for beer never stopped, so the promoters must have headed south on Highway 63 with some cash in their back pockets when all was said and done. That's good, because it wasn't always so in Fort McMurray. Many will still remember the flop that was called Fortstock -- a 1996 outdoor concert featuring Kim Mitchell that lost a lot of money.
While booze is always a volatile additive for a group of 2,000 young people, the fact there was little work for the police is excellent news.
MacIsland itself, while just the landlord for the event, got a double shot in the arm: after bathing in gallons of red in in recent years, forcing expensive taxpayer bailouts, it cashed in on the event. And the controversial in-town work camp, together with the construction underway, didn't figure in the concert at all.
For a change, MacDonald Island can bask in some good news.
Perhaps most important, we're back on the list. Concert promoters know they can bring equipment and musicians up Highway 63 -- a one-stop trip, compared with many other circuits, where they can make stops along the way -- put on a good show and earn some money doing it.
Music fans in this region have suffered through a long drought. While occasional country shows have fed the music hunger that many have, and rock acts sometimes hit local bars, there's no question that Fort McMurray's location has worked against concerts in the past.
With the growth of Fort McMurray -- the local census is still under wraps, but the population has more than doubled in the last decade -- the time has come.
Proposals for a 5,000-seat arena in the future that could or could not be approved are fine. But people, as evidenced by the support of Rock Island, want something to happen now.
This is an area where a budding entrepreneur could cash in financially and be a hero to many McMurrayites.
Failing that, why doesn't MacIsland itself consider getting into the promotion business?
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
Please, may we have more?
Last weekend's Rock Island event on MacDonald Island was a huge success by almost any measure.
Tickets were sold out and the line for beer never stopped, so the promoters must have headed south on Highway 63 with some cash in their back pockets when all was said and done. That's good, because it wasn't always so in Fort McMurray. Many will still remember the flop that was called Fortstock -- a 1996 outdoor concert featuring Kim Mitchell that lost a lot of money.
While booze is always a volatile additive for a group of 2,000 young people, the fact there was little work for the police is excellent news.
MacIsland itself, while just the landlord for the event, got a double shot in the arm: after bathing in gallons of red in in recent years, forcing expensive taxpayer bailouts, it cashed in on the event. And the controversial in-town work camp, together with the construction underway, didn't figure in the concert at all.
For a change, MacDonald Island can bask in some good news.
Perhaps most important, we're back on the list. Concert promoters know they can bring equipment and musicians up Highway 63 -- a one-stop trip, compared with many other circuits, where they can make stops along the way -- put on a good show and earn some money doing it.
Music fans in this region have suffered through a long drought. While occasional country shows have fed the music hunger that many have, and rock acts sometimes hit local bars, there's no question that Fort McMurray's location has worked against concerts in the past.
With the growth of Fort McMurray -- the local census is still under wraps, but the population has more than doubled in the last decade -- the time has come.
Proposals for a 5,000-seat arena in the future that could or could not be approved are fine. But people, as evidenced by the support of Rock Island, want something to happen now.
This is an area where a budding entrepreneur could cash in financially and be a hero to many McMurrayites.
Failing that, why doesn't MacIsland itself consider getting into the promotion business?
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
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