Continuing with the temporary tradition of giving an update at the first council meeting of each month, Mayor Steve Black presented the latest numbers pertaining to this summer's eight-day 'Stars and Thunder' festival at a special council meeting on Friday evening.
The festival will take place from June 24 until Canada Day on July 1. It will feature dozens of musical acts, as well as an international fireworks competition – an impressive pyrotechnic display will take place every night of the festival.
"We've sold tickets now in four countries. Up to nine provinces and territories now, and five states," said Black.
The total number of tickets sold is up to 13,100, with 9,200 of those being sold to Timmins residents. 950 tickets have been sold to people along the Highway 11 corridor, from Hearst to Kirkland Lake. 600 tickets have been purchased by people from the other major Northern cities: Sudbury, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay.
The total expenditure budget from the city remains at $4,180,000. Total revenue to date is $2,442,500. Interestingly, Black said that the projected revenue is exactly $4,180,000.
Significant money is expected to come through further ticket sales, beverage sales, merchandise, sponsorships, as well as grants.
"We have over $950,000 in grant applications. We're hoping to have about $300,000 in grants," said Black.
The total amount of tickets to be sold in order to hit the 'break even' mark is 5,167. This includes 986 more all-week VIP passes.
"It's great to see, in my opinion, the amount of out-of-town tickets being purchased. When that number is close to 4,000 already with four months still to sell in tickets, I think it's going to be a great event as previously mentioned, that draws a lot of people into the community and benefits not just us here at the city in getting to that break even point, but also all our businesses and services in the community," said Black.
Councillor Joe Campbell asked about the state of the grant applications, and mentioned items he had read in the media in recent months surrounding other Ontario communities having mixed success with their applications.
City residents will be able to view the fireworks displays easily without purchasing festival tickets. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday "Is there still opportunity to get these?" asked Campbell.
"A lot of the announcements that have come out early are pertaining to the 'Ontario 150' and 'Canada 150', which we informed council last time, we were turned down for those two. We have, I think it's six or seven grant applications in total. One of them we expect to hear Monday on whether we receive it or not," replied Black.
"We applied to as many as we possibly could, anticipating that the province, and upper levels of government weren't going to give us likely six or seven different applications. But we were hoping to, anywhere we could find an item that qualified under the festival, to try and reduce some cost, or obtain some upper level money, we applied for," added Black.
Regarding the '150' applications, Councillor Noella Rinaldo said that 'everyone assumed' the money would go to events celebrating heritage.
"A lot of the reasons a lot of communities did not qualify, is that wasn't what the funding was for. It was very tricky in how you write the applications, and you had to be very specific. There's money there, but they're very picky on how they give it out," said Rinaldo.
Among the local sponsors that have stepped up thus far are $390,000 worth of 'in-kind' promotional services donated by local media outlets. An additional $55,000 worth of accommodations have been donated by local hotels and motels. Just before Christmas, it was announced that local companies had rallied to double their sponsorship efforts for the Canada Day fireworks, which although takes 'Team Canada' out of the official competition, it will allow for a bigger and bolder festival finale show following headliner Keith Urban's set.
