Atlanticade deserves support, organizer says

SUMMERSIDE — Atlanticade 2014 was a success, but now the challenge is reaching an agreement to keep the international motorcycle event in Summerside, says organizer Dale Hicks.

“We had close to 3,000 participants and, out of those, about 15 per cent of them were from the Summerside area,” Hicks said in an interview from New Brunswick.

He said the other 85 per cent came from outside the Summerside area. The 2014 numbers were ahead of 2013 and on a par with 2012.

“It depends on the weather,” he added. “These figures go back to the first year we were there, when the total off-Island participation was about 65 per cent. Last year, it was almost a 50-50 split because the weather kept the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia crowd away. Normally, it’s about 65 per cent off-Island and 35 percent o-nIsland.”

Organizers were happy with this year’s turnout, noting there were participants from across the country and beyond.

“We had people from 10 provinces, one territory and 12 states. We look at what we call outside the Maritimes and that was about 15 per cent.”

Hicks said data collected from the event has gone to UPEI’s tourism and research centre.

He doesn’t have any hard figures from the 2014 event in relation to its economic impact on the city and province, adding it is usually between $1 million and $2 million.

The three-year contract between Atlanticade and the City of Summerside ended this year and negotiations for a new deal will begin in the fall.