Event grounds uneventful

Charlottetown mayor says property not used enough

With not much going on at the Charlottetown Event Grounds lately, the city’s mayor suggests it may be time to take another look at its uses.

Clifford Lee isn’t saying it’s time to stop hosting concerts or events like the shellfish festival there, but he is saying the area shouldn’t be restricted to just events hosting.

“Certainly we’re always concerned when we look at the event grounds and it’s not being used to the level we would have liked to have seen it,’’ Lee said, referring to the lack of bigname shows at the site. “Shania (Twain) was a big show in 2014, (but) I don’t expect you’re going to see a Shania performance every three months, every six months or every year.’’

Lee said people have to keep in mind that the city’s population is 45,000 and the province’s population is about 140,000, not numbers that generally attract huge concerts on a regular basis.

Also keep in mind the province has taken over the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation (CADC), which owns the event grounds property, and there are still lots of questions about what is going to happen with all of its properties.

CADC developed the site at a cost of $3 million, about half of which was from federal and provincial grants. The City of Charlottetown didn’t contribute any money.

That said, Lee said at some point the discussion about where the event grounds property goes will come up.

“I’m not sure the use needs to be totally restricted to events. I think we need to cast a wider net and see what other needs are out there in the community that the site could be used for.’’

He still thinks it’s the best site for big events, just not one that should be solely focused on events like concerts and festivals.

One thing is for sure, the city corporation won’t be getting into the concert business to boost activity.

“I’m not about to invest millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money into trying to attract groups to come to Charlottetown.’’