There were calls from some members of Elliot Lake city council last Monday to get more numbers from senior staff on the financial implications from a report on three city-sponsored summer events.
Elliot Lake's director of recreation and culture, Teresa Dunlop, and events co-ordinator Darla Hennessey submitted a report on the Uranium Heritage Days Festival, the associated street dance and the North Shore Challenge drag race classic. Some council members want to study numbers in greater detail to see if they can get more bang for the bucks being spent on Elliot Lake summer programming.
This year was the 19th anniversary of the annual drag race, which attracted about 2,000 people. Coun. Sandy Finamore noted the gate was a little off last year's, but it rained on the opening night (July 13), when the box office was shut early so people wouldn't end up buying tickets and not being able watch night racing because of the rain.
She noted in light of that, with ticket sales at the gate limited to Saturday and Sunday only, the numbers weren't bad.
Advance drag tickets accounted for $4,640, and another $94,848 was spent at the gate for the challenge at the Elliot Lake Municipal Airport.
The bottom line on drag race revenue was $143,048 while expenses ate up $165,082. That means the overall North Shore Challenge loss was around $22,033. Despite that, a separate report from Elliot Lake economic development co-ordinator Ashten Vlahovich showed the economic impact of the North Shore Challenge to the Algoma region was positive to the tune of $162,785.
Several city council members said they needed more time to decide how to run the outdoor street dance associated with Uranium Days. That will be accomplished soon through more discussion at the committee level.
Coun. Norman Mann said if the street dance is to remain a community event, "there are different ways we could present it that could also cut costs." He said, "Council needs to make a decision on whether the street dance should be run as a money maker or remain a community event we only plan to break even on."
This summer's Uranium Heritage Days Festival was staged mainly over the Canada Day weekend of June 29 through July 2. Events included a barbecue at the Masonic Lodge, a family party at Spine Beach on Canada Day, decommissioned mine tours and the street dance. One hundred forty-eight people participated in the mine tours, the Masons served 120 meals at the barbecue and 40 more people attended their Heritage Days breakfast. The street dance was delayed due to inclement weather and the Canada Day parade had to be scrubbed entirely for the same reason.
There were 500 people on hand for an evening fireworks show and barbecue at Westview Park.
Coun. Tammy VanRoon suggested a guest book would be a good addition to the Elliot Lake Welcome Centre in the Community Centre.
She wondered if the City of Elliot Lake has been doing enough to capitalize on the steady flow of people from out of town who stop there every summer. From May through the end of July, some 6,800 people arrived at the centre on Highway 108 by Hillside South. The staff report noted that in the same period, only 275 visitors checked out the Mining Museum located in the basement of the same building.
At the same time, Finamore commended the work of city staff and volunteers who carried out a major upgrade and cleanup at the Fire Tower this summer. She said the site is extremely clean and sight lines have been improved in the lookout area.
In all, 2,000 people attended the Uranium Heritage Days Festival Beach Party, where vendors reported strong sales. There were 1,000 people on hand for the street dance featuring Saturday Night Special and CCR tribute band Green River Revival. Eight hundred tickets were sold in advance and another 247 were picked up at the door. The total gate revenue was $43,342. Street dance expenses were $53,355, leaving a shortfall of just over $10,000.
Mann said there are different ways "we could present this type of event in the community that could save on costs as well."
He added, "I think at some time the council needs to grapple with that before we make plans for the season of future events."