PNE organizers lower attendance expectations
Posted August 13, 2014 4:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It was a decade-low turnout for the PNE last year, and organizers aren’t being overly ambitious with projections this time around.
This is comes in spite of new exhibits and major food vendor turnover as the fair prepares to begin this Saturday.
Just 712,000 made it to the fairgrounds last year after projections of 800,000, and now organizers are hoping just to cross the 700,000 threshold.
“Our attendance fluctuates,” Laura Ballance with the PNE says. “Our target is to do in excess of 700,000 guests, and that does continue to make us the largest ticketed event in British Columbia.”
Ballance says this year’s fair will have new features, including the only Canadian stop for a Game of Thrones exhibit, and an Internet cat video festival.
“I think the entertainment component is at a new level, and people will really appreciate that,” Ballance says. “You’ll see a lot more on-the-ground entertainment throughout the site. Different stages and different type of activiations”
Last year’s fair dealt with poor weather and two major power outages.
