After 25 years on the Dartmouth waterfront, the Multicultural Festival is moving to Halifax.
The annual event is usually held the fourth week in June, but this year that's also the weekend of the navy centennial celebrations in Halifax. Feeling they couldn't compete with that event, the festival decided to switch their event to the next weekend, but Alderney Landing had scheduling conflicts with their Canada Day celebration, so the group looked to see what other options were out there.
As it turned out, the Halifax Port Authority came to their rescue.
Bea MacGregor, executive director of Alderney Landing, said she hopes to see the festival back in Dartmouth the following year.
"I personally feel very sad about it, but on the other hand, it is only one year. Hopefully they'll have a good year and be back," said MacGregor.
Ifty Illyas, executive director for the festival, said they just couldn't go up against a free celebration like the navy's 100th anniversary, with theirs being a paid, gated event.
"In the past two years, 56 per cent of our visitors came from Halifax, and about 27 per cent from Dartmouth, so we felt that if we went on the same weekend as the navy celebrations, we would be going head to head, and that 56 per cent that came from Halifax might decide to go to the navy event."
He said they knew the competition was too much, but after closely examining the dates, they knew Alderney Landing wasn't going to work for this year.
"Fortunately for us, the Halifax Port Authority came through to help us have the event on the Halifax side."
He said even though this is just a one year deal with the Halifax Port Authority, the future of the event is still up in the air.
"If things work out and we find it's a better deal, we don't know. Hopefully if they find we've done a good job and we've attracted a fair number of people to the downtown area ... and it is a win-win for both, we will look at continuing to stay here. But, if for some reason it doesn't work out for us, we'll go back to Dartmouth next year. It's kind of open."
He said although it wasn't a deciding factor in any way, it has been disappointing that they haven't had much support from the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission over the years.
When the tall ships came to Dartmouth a few years ago, Illyas said the festival committee found out that the DDBC had given $25,000 to that event, yet their organization had not ever been given any funding.
"I can understand they wanted to support the tall ship event on the Dartmouth side, which was great," he said. "But, we've been having this event on the Dartmouth waterfront for more than 20 years, and last year we celebrated our 25th year, but when we approached the DDBC we were told they were not able to help us ... We haven't got a penny from the DDBC in all 25 years. When I called to find out why they were giving $25,000 and why we were not given a penny, the answer I got back was that we, as a festival, were competing with downtown Dartmouth restaurants.
"This is something that happens every year for two and a half days. We start Friday in the evening and go Saturday and Sunday. That came as quite a shock to me, and I was thinking to myself, where is this coming from?"he said.
But the Multicultural Festival continued to be held in Dartmouth in 2008 and 2009 because Illyas said they wanted to celebrate their 25th anniversary there. And he said they would have continued, whether they had the support of the DDBC or not. "We just wanted to do it there," he said.
Tim Olive, executive director of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, said the commission is disappointed with the news of their move to Halifax this year.
Olive said even though the DDBC was never an official sponsor of the Multicultural Festival, they have always made it clear that the greater business community fully supported their event on the Dartmouth Waterfront.
The 2010 Multicultural Festival will be held July 2, 3 and 4 on the Halifax waterfront, at the Halifax Seaport, Marginal Road, opposite Pier 21.
Illyas said people can expect the same musical entertainment and food tents as in the past. "Everything will be the same," he said.
lmckay@hfxnews.ca
Multicultural Festival moving to Halifax
The 2010 Multicultural Festival will be held at the Halifax Seaport, Marginal Road, opposite Pier 21, on July 2, 3 and 4.
- Published on April 30th, 2010
- Published on July 5th, 2010
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Lori McKay
After 25 years on the Dartmouth waterfront, the Multicultural Festival is moving to Halifax.
The annual event is usually held the fourth week in June, but this year that's also the weekend of the navy centennial celebrations in Halifax. Feeling they couldn't compete with that event, the festival decided to switch their event to the next weekend, but Alderney Landing had scheduling conflicts with their Canada Day celebration, so the group looked to see what other options were out there.
As it turned out, the Halifax Port Authority came to their rescue.
Bea MacGregor, executive director of Alderney Landing, said she hopes to see the festival back in Dartmouth the following year.
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Comments
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- That
- - July 5th, 2010 at 15:57:27
Well after reading the article, I can see why they bailed on Dartmouth. I think we have seen the last of the festival in Dartmouth.
Thanks Tim Olive & the DDBC.
This was a great event for Dartmouth, and apparently one of the few haligonians enjoyed as well. -
- Tim
- - July 5th, 2010 at 15:57:27
I am disappointed to seeing the Multicultural Festival leave Dartmouth, but hope they will come back next year. I am the current chair of the Dartmouth Tree Lighting and I am happy to report that HRM contributes a significant amount of dollars and services to the event. But, the event, like many events, still relies on support from the business community. While the DDBC is no longer a sponsor of the tree lighting, the Dartmouth business community still provides the dollars to make it happen. Its important to note, that Dartmouth businesses support a great deal to make the community a great place to live, play and if you are fortunate enough work. They support pirate days, childrens events, highland games and fireworks on lake banook to name a few. I am not a Dartmouth business owner or member of the DDBC, but I think its necessary to point out that when it comes to supporting events the Dartmouth business community is second to nobody.
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- Courtney
- - July 5th, 2010 at 15:57:27
I'm so excited for this! With events like this, we more farther towards cultural tolerance and diversity. I hope I'll see some bellydancing! ;)
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- Tim
- - July 5th, 2010 at 15:57:26
It is unfortunate that critics are so shallow as to not provide their name. It is also unfortunate that the same individuals who criticize our downtown business community probably don't shop in downtown Dartmouth either.
To the point however, the real question here is whether HRM consider the Multicultural Festival a major signature event and fund it accordingly. Unfortunately they do not and expect the private sector business community to again pony up dollars that they do not have as a result of paying the highest commercial taxes in Canada to help subsidize the suburban sprawl policies of this current council.
For example the DDBC, for years, fully supported the Annual Dartmouth Tree Lighting event to the tune of over $40,000 until HRM charged back public services in excess of $24,000 after it was over.
The DDBC fully supports our ethnic community and many of our successful businesses are of ethnic origin. This however does not mean that our business sector is totally responsible for funding all public events in the Capital District and in our region of Dartmouth, particularly when our elected officials are not committed to meeting the challenge.
It would be more appropriate to engage our elected officials at all levels of government on their commitments to our multicultural mosiac than take shots at our struggling business community.
Unfortunately it is the current political environment that encourages the general public to to malign the business sector for the failure of government policy initiatives.
