Jack Frost: surely it will rise again
If there is no festival in 2013, it may well be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder
The Jack Frost Festival has become a popular mid- winter attraction in this province over the years, and so the prospect that it could be shelved is regrettable. Can it not be saved?
Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee announced this week that unless someone comes forward soon to take responsibility for the winter festival for 2013, it will be put on ice for the year.
In the past, the children’s festival was run by Tourism Charlottetown, but that organization no longer exists, and while a newly formed group, Discover Charlottetown, absorbed some of its duties, it has stayed away from event management. The city has been in talks with a private company that showed an interest in running the event, but it backed out because of the level of risk.
As popular as it was, Jack Frost was also costly, with a $ 500,000 price tag, according to the mayor. The city put up $ 25,000, and other private sponsors put in their share. Although it was never a big moneymaker for Tourism Charlottetown, Jack Frost was a gift for the local economy in the mid- winter months. Last February, more than 14,000 people ( 60 per cent were from out of province) descended on Charlottetown, adding an estimated $ 3 million to the local economy.
That’s impressive, and it justifies the case for governments and the private sector to find a way to rescue this festival.
Rather than leave it up solely to the private sector, why doesn’t the mayor invite the province, the federal government and representatives of the private sector to form a new organization to take over the festival? These are tough economic times, so governments don’t have a lot of money to offer. But surely they can discuss what they’re prepared to give, and cultivate the support needed from the private sector to mount a festival for 2013.
Maybe for the time being, we’ll have to settle for an event with fewer bells and whistles, but with enough shared interest and some government and private sector funding, it’s not unrealistic to expect that Jack Frost, as a high- profile mid- winter attraction, will rise again.
The mayor says time is running out, and that if a decision isn’t made soon, there will be no Jack Frost in 2013. That would be unfortunate, but it also wouldn’t be fatal. In fact, it may well be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder. If the mayor can’t generate any interest this year, the lack of a winter festival this coming February may create a whole new groundswell of interest in staging it in 2014. With that may come new blood and new ideas about the possibilities for future Jack Frost Festivals.