KELOWNA, B.C. – The producers of Kelowna’s Center of Gravity music and sports festival would like the event returned to its original calendar dates.
“There’s a lot more bodies in town. The weather is a little bit more safer. The most successful years were on those dates,” says festival Operations Director Liam Peyton.
The event hasn’t sold out in three years since it was moved from the August long weekend because of City of Kelowna concerns.
“We had challenges with the tourism sector. The hotels are already full,” says Kelowna Event Development Supervisor Mariko Siggers. “We had challenges with emergency services. It’s always a very busy weekend downtown and to also hold a festival was an extra tax our resources that was challenging.”
Peyton says improvements were made this year to on-site security and medical services that markedly reduced the number of police calls and hospital visits by festival attendees.
“We don’t feel we could have done any better and we’re extremely happy.”
Siggers says the city is willing to consider returning Center of Gravity to the August long weekend.
“There are so many different variables we have to look at,” says Siggers. “We have to really understand the impact to the resources. Do we even have the emergency services resources to handle it?”
During peak times at the festival over the weekend, producers say about 6000 ticket holders were on site.
When it was held on the BC Day weekend, that number was closer to 8000.