THUNDER BAY – The first Wake the Giant music festival will be getting a boost from the city.
The one-day concert, scheduled for Sept. 14, was approved by Thunder Bay city council for an in-kind donation of up to $17,000 that will allow the event to use the city’s stage and lighting equipment.
Organizers are anticipating attendance of 4,000 people, with the hope of ticket sales helping to generate a profit that could be used to hold the event in future years.
Coun. Andrew Foulds (Current River) said the event isn’t just some random festival, but has the potential to be a game changer for the community.
A meager donation can have significant pay off, Foulds argued.
“This community is at a crossroads and this council is going to have to make some tough decisions on what a positive way forward is,” Foulds said. “We clearly have a crisis in this community when it comes to race, racism and some of the challenges with our Indigenous youth. We know one of the biggest challenges is that transition from northern communities to schools come September.
“This is about being a welcoming community. This is about saying, with open arms, we want you here. We want you to be safe. We want you to have an education. We want you to be successful.”
The city is also giving Wake the Giant a $10,000 contribution for the festival through its event development grant, a funding program meant to assist first-year initiatives. Council also approved giving the initiative a total of up to $15,000 through its budget to address the Seven Youth Inquest recommendations and the federally funded Youth Inclusion Program.
City administration had recommended against providing the in-kind donation, as many other events that use the city’s stage and equipment are free events. The city had anticipated receiving a total of $33,000 this year in revenue through stage and associated equipment rental.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson (At-Large), who insisted she is not against the initiative, expressed concern that waiving the costs could open the door for other event organizers to seek similar support.
Rental fees for stage and lighting equipment is the cost of doing business to host a festival. Johnson said.
“I am concerned about the fact that here we are, once again, we’ve now set these precedents to keep giving money away,” Johnson said. “We better start saying no because, I’ll tell you, if you really think it was tough this year for budgets, I will tell you next year you’ll be hard finding $17,000, let alone $33,000.”
Coun. Shelby Ch’ng (Northwood), who introduced the proposal to waive the fees, said the true cost to the community is the lost lives of Indigenous youth.
“This is about transforming our community,” she said. “A small cost of the $92,000, I could raise my arms too, is actually a very small cost to the cost we’ve already paid socially, economically. I can’t go anywhere without talking about those seven children. This could be a watershed moment.”
