The future of the Northern Lights Festival is in question.
Although the event is popular enough that visitor fees from the Connaught Hill showcase covers the cost of the event - which is about $30,000 -, since the festival operates under the auspices of Tourism Prince George (TPG), part of that group's benchmarking process is to ensure the Northern Lights Festival makes money and makes sense.
TPG is newly formed as a stand-alone promotions entity, and they have a fresh set of staff and directors who are giving every facet of tourism a once-over before proceeding into the future.
"It takes in almost purely a cost-recovery amount," said TPG chief executive officer Aidan Kelly. "The philosophy so far with the festival has been to build it up. It is still relatively new. In the longer term, it is hoped that you get to the point it makes the kind of money to see it expand."
Is the festival best left under the purview of TPG, however? Kelly wants to examine the options.
"Is it the right fit for us? I don't know. I have to look at that. It hasn't always been handled by Tourism Prince George, and there may be better options."
The Downtown Business Improvement Association used to look after the event. It is currently a partnership with a number of agencies led by TPG: BC Hydro gives a small grant, Pacific Western Transportation and IDL Construction are sponsors of certain elements of the event, Initiatives Prince George and the City of Prince George each contribute staff time and in-kind help like plowing the roads.
"We store the displays, we put them up and we take them down," said Flavio Viola, manager of the city's Parks and Solid Waste Services department. "It takes us a couple of weeks to set up all the displays, run all the wiring, and the same thing goes in spring when we have our crews take down the displays. It also involves cleanup of the road sand."
His estimate is $20,000 in in-kind help just from his department, but he said there was also the value of the snow clearing and the electricity bill which the municipality also contributes to the event.
Kelly estimated the actual cost of the Northern Lights Festival to be about $90,000 each year, if you calculated all the favours as well as the bills.
One of Kelly's concerns is that should some unforeseen event cause ticket sales to drop, TPG would be stuck with the bill. If there isn't enough revenue to upgrade and maintain the displays, the audience will shrink.
"It needs a full review of the festival in general and the project as a whole," he said. "Right now all I hear are positive things about it other than some people who can't afford the $10. But there are a lot of carloads who do drive through. The event made $33,000 last year, so that's the equivalent of 3,300 cars (pedestrians are $5 each).
The numbers are down from the first year for the festival, 2007-08, when there were 6,000 cars that passed through carrying an estimated 23,000 people. Yet the most recent figures continue to be encouraging, now that the initial wave of interest has worn off.
Kelly said one of the ways to ease the bottom line is to secure sponsorships that cover the costs, so perhaps the ticket prices could be reduced, or perhaps the ticket money could be invested in future features or a longer duration, to make the event into a major draw for the city.
The Northern Lights Festival on Connaught Hill is open from 5 to 10 p.m. until Jan. 2. Tickets can be purchased at Tourism Prince George, various hotels or at the hill.
