Festival Wrap Up

With the event becoming a distant memory and the official tally yet to be released, it is safe to say the North Bay Heritage Festival and Grant Forest Products Air show was not the blockbuster committee members had hoped for.

While the concerts by Davy Jones and Shaggy had good attendance, the numbers were down for both the Friday and Sunday events and that has festival organizers re-evaluating the event and looking at ways to re-invent itself for the future.

Many residents who normally attend the event opted to do other things this year as they felt the entertainment line-up was not what they were looking for and left a lot to be desired, and for festival goers who did hit the grounds they found many attractions were noticeably missing.

The Heritage Village, which in the past has hosted local clubs, agencies and artisans, was once again absent. But most notably the anchor at Lee Park was missing and that had families scrambling to find other attractions to fill in time.

"I promised my 3-year-old son Preston that we would go on a few rides at the midway and then got to the petting zoo, I didn't know what to say when we went to the spot were the zoo is always set up and it wasn't there," states Leigh Ann Lightfoot.

"We were very disappointed."

But the festival wasn't all disappointment. For Anne Geautier, who drove 40 hours straight through from Edmonton for the Davy Jones concert, it was a dream come true. While waiting in line to score a much anticipated autograph, Geautier told BayToday.ca the drive was worth it.

"I have had a huge crush on Davy since I was 8-years-old," states Geautier.

"I used to dress my dolls up and tell them We're going to see Daddy's concert."

Armed with a Tiger Beat from October 1968, Georgette Martel shared her enthusiasm and memorabilia with other fans while queuing up to have the former hearth throb autograph the magazine.

"I thought to myself, 'Oh My God what are the odds of someone I've been collecting would be coming to North Bay,' one in a million," Martel went on to say.

"My 8-year-old son Zachery now listens to the Monkees, in fact I had to buy him his own CD because he was always borrowing mine. He's popular because of the TV show they have a whole new generation of fans, It's timeless."

The numbers in attendance not only hurt the committee's gate receipts, but resonated down to the vendors leaving them disappointed with their daily takings. However Hub Fedeli of the Davedi Club couldn't have been more pleased.

"This has been a great year for us possibly our most successful. I think people were glad to have something different than fried foods, so yes it has been a great year."

Al Morin, hometown star and member of the Max Air Big Air Show, proved that it takes more than a knock on the head to keep a Bayite down. During the show Morin misjudged a landing and hit his head, but got up waved to the crowd and continued to preform.

"It was a concussion and I was bleeding and ended up getting staples in my head," Morin said.

"It hurt but I had my bearings so I could still preform."

And so the show must go on for festival organizers. The committee will now have to dig deep, regroup and change the way they do business. Festival chair Doug Herbrand, has taken the first step and started the process by opening the door to think tanks involving city residents.

BayToday.ca will continue to update the story as the numbers are officially released.