The manager of the Mariners Centre says while they have hosted successful concerts in the past, others haven’t been so profitable.
The centre used to fill a gap and was included on a circuit for promoters.
But Gil Dares says over the years, more venues have sprung up, like Queen’s Place Emera Centre and the Lunenburg County Lifestyle Centre.
He says the Mariners Centre also has a lack of proper seating and faces other challenges.
“We have about 500 seats that accommodate floor seating but the fire marshal has made it clear that the seats have to be ‘ganged’, so we don’t have enough concert seating to really make it viable. It we could pick up another few hundred seats to accommodate that, then we’d at least be able to sell enough tickets to make it a good venture. We’ve had encouragement from at least two members of two municipal councils that have asked that we consider holding more concerts.”
Those include being located at the end of the province and in a catchment area that is less densely populated that more centrally located areas.
Dares says the Mariners Centre is asking the Town of Yarmouth and the Municipality of Yarmouth which own the facility and the Municipality of Argyle, which provides operational funding to the centre, to consider developing a concert fund with approximately $45,000 to cover any loss.
“In the event of a profit then the fund would be built up or the additional funds could be used to offset any deficit at the Mariners Centre.”
Dares admits there will still be the risk of not selling enough tickets to cover the cost.
