Twenty-one thousand people filled the new Mosaic Stadium in Regina for the venue’s first concert and second test event to see an all-Canadian line up of Our Lady Peace, Johnny Reid, and Bryan Adams.
This is shy of the city’s goal of 25,000 fans, or 75 per cent of the capacity crowd.
Kim Onrait, City of Regina executive director of city services & major projects, said there are still some problems to work out.
He is pleased to see that over a third of the concert’s attendees took advantage of free transit to the venue. However, there were bottlenecks at the Southland Mall and Victoria Square Mall.
“Do some people want to come to the event an hour and a half before the game? Two hours before the game? And how do we make those adjustments accordingly?” he asked.
“I think over the period of 2017, and specifically the first three or four Rider games, we will start seeing people’s habits.”
The city was able to adjust through the evening. Eighteen buses were added to the fleet in order to handle the demand for the post-show crowd.
Other complaints revolved around food services. This included congestion in the main concourse area.
“With construction still underway in many of the food and beverage spaces, we didn’t have the full complement of vendors in place. It was sometimes a challenge to keep up with demand, and we appreciate everyone’s patience,” Mark Allan, president and CEO of Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL), said.
Allan said this congestion will be eased at future events. All of the concession stands are expected to be opened for the June 10 Saskatchewan Roughriders preseason game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The REAL CEO added that discussions are planned to potentially add a more suitable queue system at concessions to allow for a smoother flow of foot traffic.
The city will be emailing ticket holders later this week, seeking feedback ahead of the next event at new Mosaic, which is only two weeks away.
Anecdotally, reception for the new venue is largely positive.
Comments