There will be fewer bar locations at this year’s Stars and Thunder.
Tuesday, Timmins council approved awarding the contract for the bar services at the upcoming music festival to McIntyre Catering Services. Two companies bid on the tender, with the McIntyre’s bid of $98,500 plus HST coming in the lowest.
By reducing the hours the festival grounds are open and cutting back on the number of bar locations this year, CAO Dave Landers said the city was able to see about a 33 per cent reduction in costs for the services compared to last year.
“What happened is the bar service providers were out there last year with a full set of staff at every bar pretty much and no one to serve,” Landers said.
“As we were looking to reduce costs going into this year, that was an area where we saw we could reduce some of the costs because we knew that with a bar service provision, they’ve got to pay the bartenders, they’ve got to recruit the people, they’ve got to have them there.”
During the week, the grounds will open at 3 p.m., with an earlier opening time on the weekend.
At the inaugural festival, there were five bar locations on the site, two in the VIP area and three in general admission.
This year, there will be a small bar in the VIP and one in general admission.
The large tent straddling the VIP and general admission will be used for bar service as well.
“We’re not worried about the lineups, last year we were able to manage the lineups very well at the bars, the restaurants was a little different, and so this year we’re looking at bartending schedules that’ll make sure that we can handle the demand that we had last year and also in that larger tent we’ll be able to move things a lot quicker, so it’s a bit of an economy of scale in there as well,” he said.
Ticket sales for the 2018 Stars and Thunder, which runs June 24 to July 1, have been slower than last year.
Landers told council that at the end of last week they had sold about 5,800 tickets worth almost $1.6 million. By the end of April last year, 13,708 tickets worth $3 million had been sold.
This year, he noted there is also about $60,000 in revenue from concession, as well as about $24,000 in grants, and $450,000 for sponsorships. A full update on where all of those are at is expected at the next council meeting June 5.
Ticket prices for the festival increased May 1.
A VIP pass is now $500, while the general admission pass is $300. Single-day VIP tickets are also now on sale, with 500 available for each day of the festival.
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is the headliner for the festival that starts June 24 and wraps up July 1. Check out the rest of the lineup here. Regional acts will also be performing on the big stage, find out more on them here.
You can pick up tickets at starsandthunder.com or in person at the city hall tax counter, currently located at the Confederation Multi Sports Complex at 303 Cameron St. S., during regular business hours. This temporary relocation is to accommodate renovations at City Hall for the addition of the customer service centre.
