The Rogers Hometown Hockey festival that hit Chatham-Kent came in under budget while injecting thousands of dollars into the local community.
The two-day hockey extravaganza took place on December 15 and 16 2018 in downtown Chatham. Council received an information report on Monday night regarding the outcome of the event and its impact on Chatham.
Originally estimated to cost $20,000 to $30,000 to host the event, the municipality wound up spending $19,397 on hosting responsibilities. The bulk of that went to security and promotions, which cost $7,950 and $6,430 respectively. Equipment rentals, extended city bus service and administrative services each cost the municipality around $1,500. Rogers Media picked up the tab for the remainder of any expenses.
The community received several financial benefits by hosting the event including $5,000 donated by Scotiabank to the Wallaceburg Minor Hockey Association, Kent Minor Hockey Association and the Chatham-Kent Girls Hockey Association. Chatham-Kent 4-H also received a $15,000 donation from the Ted Rogers Community Grant.
The numbers of attendees have not been made public, however, the report estimates that thousands visited the festival site over the weekend. Six per cent of those in attendance were from outside of the municipality, 62 per cent from Chatham and 32 per cent from other Chatham-Kent communities. Members of staff working with the travelling event booked 209 rooms during the week of the event as they prepared for it.
According to Mayor Darrin Canniff, the event also gave Chatham-Kent something that money can't buy -- a good reputation.
"It was a huge success. I know that it mentioned in the report a lot of the comments that various people that travelled with it [made]. I asked a lot of those same questions and got the same response. They said it was on the top notch as far as attendance goes. They talked about how we outdid virtually every other community they've been to in recent memory," he said.