Several thousand people are estimated to have attended the Port of Saint John’s Festival of Sail throughout the weekend, numbers organizers and the city are thrilled about.
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“This is huge for Saint John — it’s a reason to stay home in the summer and celebrate your city and celebrate all of this great stuff with your neighbours,” explained Katie Bowden, managing director for Duke Creative Collective, the festival’s marketing sponsor. “It’s a wonderful thing.”
The Festival of Sail gave attendees the chance to see, touch and even board several vintage tall ships — giving a unique maritime experience to everyone who came from near and far to take it all in.
“It’s also great to export Saint John,” Bowden added. “Anyone who comes from away to visit this today is taking great memories of Saint John away.”
Mayor Don Darling said throughout the three-day festival that he’s spoken with many visitors who made the port city a must on their summer to-do list due, in part, to the event.
“On Friday morning I was having breakfast sitting beside visitors from South Carolina and Australia that came to Saint John, New Brunswick to experience tall ships,” he said. “These types of events are fantastic.”
Darling said hosting such an event is certainly great for boosting tourism numbers, but the positive effect it has on local residents shouldn’t be overlooked.
“We’ll have multi-million dollar economic spin off — so that’s the business case for doing events like this,” the mayor explained. “But it also makes the city feel so great.”