Saltwire Network
CORNER BROOK, N.L.
As festivals and concerts and other events get cancelled, Dustin Parsons said summer 2020 is going to be a weird one.
Parsons is the founder of Steady Entertainment. The Pasadena-based entertainment company is one of the sponsors of the City of Corner Brook’s Jigs and Wheels Festival.
On Wednesday, May 6, the city announced it was cancelling the July 30 to Aug. 2 festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Large gatherings are restricted under the special public health measures that have been put in place by the province’s chief medical officer of health.
For Parsons, the cancellation brings the number of events Steady Entertainment is involved with that now won’t go ahead to about 20.
With festivals and event promotion, Parsons said there is a lot of advanced work that happens — like website development and establishing a social media presence — and a lot of that was done for Jigs and Wheels. So, he said it was disappointing to hear the festival had been cancelled.
“But thankfully we weren’t to a point where it was disastrous to cancel the event.”
In an email to Saltwire Network, the city said it had budgeted $50,000 for the festival and Corner Brook Day festivities, which have also been cancelled.
The city said purchases of things like banners and signage had been on hold with suppliers while the festival looked for sponsors and the only expense was approximately $10,000 for Jigs and Wheels promotional products. Those were not marked “2020” and can be used in 2021.
The city doesn’t anticipate any more expenses related to the festival and any tickets that have been purchased will be fully refunded.
Parsons said Steady Entertainment did incur some costs and is confident they will be covered. The city said in its email that it would consider any expenses the company incurred, according to the agreement in place, and would work directly with them on the matter.
The other events Steady Entertainment was involved with — comedian Trent McClellan’s Hunt for Happiness Tour and a Metal Militia Metallica Tribute Show for St. John’s — were further advanced.
“And the unfortunate thing is what you end up losing is all of your marketing spend. Even when the event is just postponed you’ve lost all that and closer to the event you’ve got to spend it all again to ensure the success,” said Parsons.
McClellan, who is originally from Corner Brook and lives in Calgary, said in a Facebook message that they were able to get deposits back, but the marketing dollars were already spent, and ticket revenue just disappeared.
“We’re reluctant to try to reschedule at the moment because we don’t know what the new landscape of live performance will look like.”
He added many venues are closed and aren’t taking new bookings because they are also unsure.
“It’s a wait-and-see game at the moment.”
As an artist, McClellan said he was really starting to hit his grove with the new material each night.
“It starts to feel like a new pair of jeans you’re breaking in and they just get more comfortable each time you put them on. So, it’s disappointing not being able to keep that creative and performance momentum going, but we all have to accept the reality of the situation right now.”
The reality is that it could be some time before live events happen again.
“Because there’s no real end in sight we trying to be adaptive,” said Parsons.
He’s started the Isolation Show, talking with people about COVID-19 and life during the pandemic, which is available through Steady Entertainment’s Facebook page. He’s also applied for grants under MusicNL’s Press On program to support innovative and sustainable projects for music industry professionals.
“Adapt to the new event space and be on top of where the new virtual entertainment is going to be.”
Going virtual is something that works for some events but not all.
While Jigs and Wheels was branded as an ATV festival to attract riders to the city, Parsons said it really centred around the street party vibe. Events like Blame it on Broadway…Again and a concert on West Street, were meant to build on the success on the city’s 2019 Come Home Year.
“The attraction here, of course, is Corner Brook,” said Mayor Jim Parsons. “It is the ability to come into town with an ATV, but also for the local residents to gather together in like a street festival.”
Mayor Parsons said it seems pretty clear that’s something that won’t be permitted in the current plan.
“We’re ready to go again. Hopefully next year will be full steam ahead with plans to revive it.”
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
@western_star
