Tumbler Ridge Mayor Larry White is concerned that events scheduled at EnCana Events Centre (EEC) are conflicting with other community events in the region.
White approached city council Monday to specifically address that the town's premier event, Grizfest, falls on the same weekend that Meat Loaf is scheduled to perform at the EEC.
Being that the Grizfest lineup is the same musical genre as Meat Loaf, White worries that attendance at Grizfest will significantly decrease.
White was aware that city council has no direct impact on which acts are booked at EEC, but he hoped that council would relay these concerns to Global Spectrum (which is contracted by the city to book events) so that similar situations do not occur in the future.
"There are many community events in the Peace Region and conflicts are bound to occur, but if we try to work together, then everyone can benefit (in the future)," said White.
Tumbler Ridge councillor Kelly McManus added that he was part of a delegation that met with Global Spectrum last year to discuss this type of competing situation that would likely arise.
"We felt it was prudent to have a sit down discussion with representatives there, to say who we were, what Grizfest was all about, and perhaps even to explore some ways to partner with the events centre so that it could be a win-win as opposed to a competition," McManus said. "At that time, the global representative didn't think going head to head with Grizfest would be a smart thing to do.
"Clearly this year is going to be test case to that."
McManus noted that Tumbler Ridge and Dawson Creek are intrinsically linked, from a commercial and entertainment standpoint.
"We do provide a fair amount of support to the city of Dawson Creek It would seem to be counterproductive, in our minds, to have a situation where that events center then starts to compete in very drastic ways with the initiatives from the local communities that you're looking to support your facility," he said.
Mayor Mike Bernier said the city knew right away that Meat Loaf would be in conflict with Grizfest, and immediately called White to inform him.
"We are trying to have that open communication, because you're right, the communities in the entire region support each other in their events and unfortunately there are going to be times where there are conflicts," he said, noting that the he didn't think that Meat Loaf's one concert would deter people from attending the weekend-long Grizfest.
"We never purposely, intentionally, ever go out to conflict with any other communities' projects," said Bernier.
"We have a lot more events going on in that facility. I think it's bound to conflict in the future with other communities' events as well."
Bernier explained that Global Spectrum's job is to communicate with touring companies to book events, but that they are not given a choice of which dates to schedule.
Essentially, touring companies say "Meat Loaf is coming to the area and if you want him, he can play on this date, yes or no," said Bernier. "There's no negotiation around him coming three days early, because if you ask that, they just go to a different city."
