"A Home Run".... Partnerships That Work...

I've waited a full week before commenting on the Cavendish Beach Music Festival as I wanted to hear some of the opinions of others before throwing out my two cents.... Jeff Squires, Al Stewart, Kevin Murphy, Scott Linkletter, and a host of others including the PEI Department of Tourism (yes, Valerie and her crew) and ACOA have hit a "home run" with this event and we Islanders owe them a big "thank you" for having the fortitude and initiative to create this event... simply put this was one of the most organized outdoor concerts I've ever attended and although I only made it to the Saturday and Sunday evening shows.... I did talk to a lot of people young and old on site who had stayed the full three days and they had a blast... there were lots of tourists and lots of families and I can't help thinking that this is the type of crowd that fits our tourist marketplace... the thing that stood out the most for me was the quality of the staff, the volunteers and the vendors who were "friendly" and "service orientated" which seemed to be the theme of the whole event... security and crowd control was at the forefront and certainly was a big part of the success... they had about 40,000 in total attendance which probably equates to about 20,000 visitors and my guess is that next year they will easily add another 10,000 to these numbers as there were a lot of sceptics going into the event... and there are still a few whiners out there shooting the mouths off that Government gave them too much money which is nonsense when you compare it to what competitive venues like Moncton and Halifax have received for infrastructure and promotion... in fact our Government should assist them more for policing, traffic control, promotion and possible grandstands as this is a "winner" for PEI tourism.... yesterday I was in Antigonish picking up my son who attended the "Evolve Festival" http://www.evolvefestival.com and on the way I drove by the Riverside Speedway http://www.riversidespeedway.ca where about 5,000 fans were attending one of the weekly events.... and on the way back I meet a load of people on the boat who were coming back from the "Kiss" concert that had 50,000 fans.... last week Halifax had 50,000 at the McCartney Concert and Halifax expects to have about 100,000 people attend the Tall Ships http://www.tallshipsnovascotia.com over the next week and I could go on and on... the regional tourist industry has become very competitive and it seems that the big events draw the crowds and the customers and if PEI is going to compete in that market then we need to continue Partnerships like the Cavendish Beach Music Festival to keep PEI on the Atlantic tourism map.... the people that attended our concert spent a lot of money in the Cavendish marketplace and it will eventually make its way around our Community.... and the practice of public and experienced private partnerships is certainly the way to go... congratulations to everyone involved in the Cavendish Beach Music Festival for a job well done.... and how about Keith Urban for next year..... on another note I posted a blog or should I say a "rant" at the Guardian last week on their initial coverage of the Concert and I must say that their follow up reports on Monday were much more positive and in keeping with "good news" reporting...