Timmins Festivals and Events chairman John Olaveson is taking the cancellation of this year’s Rock on the River as a chance to support the sponsors who usually support the event.
He says local sponsors often cover up to half of the festival’s artist budget.
So Olaveson’s asking the 5,500 attendees to take the two-hundred dollars they would likely spend… and spend it at local businesses.
“That’s a modest estimate of what a ticket would cost and food and maybe some drinks,” says Olaveson, as he does the math. “So if those 55-hundred attendees spend 200 bucks, you’re looking at $1.1-million injection into the economy.”
Olaveson is hopeful that the pandemic eases in time to stage Beerfest in September, postponed from April.