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Mountain View Rocks deemed success despite low turnout
Organizers aimed high with a prediction that more than 1,500 would show up at the 1st Annual Mountain View Rocks concert on July 14.
The promotion campaign went well. The Didsbury Memorial Park venue was considered first class. They brought in some big-name performers, such as Nick Gilder and Sweeney Todd, and the weather, although overcast, held up.
In the end though only about 400 people showed up.
But organizers are still claiming the first-ever event was a “roaring” success.
“It went really well. In a perfect world, yes, I would have liked to have seen more people attend,” said Deborah Patten, chair of the event, who estimated that there were about 400 who took in the concert. “But it was a great event and word will be passed around that next year will even be better. We are considering it a roaring success.
“It was our first event and until you prove yourself people will sit back and wait,” she added. “People in the know didn’t think that the numbers would be there because it was our first one.”
Patten said attendance at the event was hindered by competition from the Calgary Stampede, as well as it being the first one of its kind to ever be staged in the town.
“Success isn’t just measured by financial gain but whether everybody had a good time, and it is yes to that,” she said.
Patten said festival organizers were working with a $40,000 budget. She said she believes there will be a small deficit. She expressed optimism the concert made back about 80 per cent of its expenditures. Patten said she has not yet had a chance to go over the numbers in detail to offer precise financial figures.
However, she is optimistic there will be a festival next year. She added there was plenty of local support, and that Memorial Park served as a superb venue.
“We had a fantastic group of about 50 volunteers. I thank each and every one of them as they were significant in the concert’s success,” said Patten. “It was the first show of this kind ever at Memorial Park and from an acoustic level and line of vision it was a very good venue.”
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