Yesterday the community seemed to be in shock with the cancellation of Bluesfest. The story, as outlined by the auditorium is simple. There simply weren’t enough acts to choose from to ensure the success of the festival for this year. It’s that simple.
Since late yesterday I’ve made the terrible mistake of reading some of the comments on our Facebook page, and the pages of other news organizations in the city. Social media can be a terrible place sometimes. This is a big story in our community – it’s what many will be talking about for days to come and will start talking about again this summer. With that, the keyboard warriors that seem to be on alert for these kinds of stories jump into action. There’s got to be more to the story….there’s conflict in the TBCA…. and all kinds of other ridiculous insinuations that have absolutely no truth to them.
Then there are the ‘blues’ experts who are piping up with comments like, ‘it stopped being a BluesFest years ago’ and because of that it was destined to fail. Also, absolutely false.
We should be thanking the founders of BluesFest who in 2002 put their money where their mouth was and rolled the dice to bring something great to our city. They stuck their neck out and created what soon became the premier event in our city. To them we should be thankful.
When the event became bigger it was passed along to Bob Halverson and the team from the TBCA. At that point, with new resources available and a strong team of event managers, production staff and marketing professionals the festival continued to grow. In year 18, the festival sold out in 2 weeks. Bryan Adams was the headliner. It was a weekend for the ages.
This week organizers were put in a difficult position, with the lack of headliner acts to book, the decision had to be made to hit the brakes for this year. It must have been agonizing. This really has become the city’s premier event – but the decision had to be made.
Promoting and managing shows at the level of Bluesfest is a huge risk. Consider over a million dollars in artist fees, production, staff, security…the list goes on and on. Imagine for a second if they were using your money to do it……Would you be comfortable with the risk?
Well. They are using your money.
The Thunder Bay Community Auditorium is a local service. It exists to serve the community with entertainment and a venue for organizations of all kinds. It has been operating for over 25 years with the same budget from the city. No increases. The same budget. That budget is funded by….you. Through hard work and a passion for what the building stands for, the amazing team at the auditorium continue to provide a world class service to our community.
So, when the auditorium staff struggle with the lineup for BluesFest every year, they do so understanding the enormous risk it entails. The risk….to you. If they decided to go ahead with a festival without A-List headliners, undertaking the same expenses and risk, but don’t sell the tickets to cover the costs – you pay the bill. Yet the keyboard warriors ignore that fact and try to make its cancellation about something else. It isn’t about anything else. If anything, we should be thanking the staff for taking the safe road and not gambling with our money.
Before reading and falling for the ridiculous comments online with theories about why the festival was cancelled – thank the auditorium team for bringing us a premier, world class event for 18 years. Thank the founding team from 2002. While you’re at it, thank the incredible production team that every year increase the quality of the experience for you by working 18 plus hour days behind the scenes. Then consider the other implications like vendors without a place to sell, the charities that count on the funds from your 50-50 tickets, or the hard-working staff that count on the extra hours over the summer time. There is no other story. The story from the Auditorium is accurate. They did the right thing.
The team at the auditorium work tirelessly to provide the festival for you to look forward to and enjoy every year, but this year they’re looking out for your tax dollars. Thank you, Mr. Halverson for your efforts and your passion for the festival and what it means to the community. On behalf of all of us, please thank your hard-working staff for making the festival a world class event for so many years. Enjoy your summer off. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the festival’s return.
That’s just my two cents. ~John
