The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Revealed: Perth’s Christmas lights party cost nearly £190k
Event attracted a record turnout and generated around £1.6 million for the local economy
Council chiefs spent nearly £190,000 on Perth’s biggest Christmas party, The Courier can reveal.
Pop icon Alesha Dixon headlined the weekend’s seasonal switch-on extravaganza which attracted a record crowd of around 45,000 people.
Early statistics released by the local authority suggest the 2017 show was the busiest yet, generating at least £1.6m for the local economy.
The amount of taxpayer cash spent on the event has been scaled back since 2016’s show starring hip hop star Professor Green and retro rockers Slade.
A total of £188,000 – including £39,000 from the city’s common good fund – went on this year’s party, which was spread across three stages and featured more than 30 acts and performers.
As well as Strictly star Alesha Dixon, main stage acts included 70s charttoppers Mud, pop act East 17 and Boyzlife, featuring boyband icons Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy.
However, the council has refused to provide a breakdown of costs, stating this will be disclosed in a future council report.
It is understood around £90,000 was spent on fees for all entertainers, while the £188,0000 total also included staging, marketing and health and safety costs.
Around £216,000 was spent on last year’s show.
A local authority spokeswoman said: “Once again the Christmas light switch-on event, coupled with the Perth Festive Feast for the first time, has been a great success.
“The total cost to the council to host this event was £188,000, of which £39,000 came from the Perth common good fund.”
She said: “While we do not have the specific details of the economic impact for the weekend yet, we are extremely confident that it will have met – if not surpassed – last year’s economic boost of £1.6 million over the weekend.
“We believe that this year’s event has brought the biggest crowd so far, with approximately 45,000 people at the Christmas lights switch-on time.
“And we have received a lot of positive feedback from people who attended over the weekend.”
The spokeswoman added: “While we acknowledge that there is a financial output to hold such a high quality event, we believe that the return on investment in terms of the number of people it brings to the city, the boost to the local economy and the boost to the profile of the city, means that this investment is more than worth it.”