After the success of their Rockin’ the Park event in 2019 — an outdoor concert at Esterhazy Regional Park — there were high hopes for year two of the event, but like many other events the concert had to be cancelled for 2020 due to COVID-19
“I signed a new contract last week that we would postpone Rockin’ the Park until 2021,” said Esterhazy Recreation Fundraising Association president Brenda Redman. “Same lineup, same everything, we just have to postpone it for a year, but it’s the same weekend.”
The economic impact Covid-19 has had on Esterhazy and the surrounding communities played a big role in the cancellation.
“How we came about this decision is — of course Covid-19 has everything to do with it — because we depend on the businesses in our town to support it and we just feel we cannot ask them for money at this time to help support Rockin’ the Park,” said Redman.
“We made the decision to postpone it because of that, but with that being said, the government not letting us know when these functions can even happen led to us saying there’s just not enough time.”
“But most of it was because of the businesses,” said Redman. “We just couldn’t be selfish and said, ‘no we can’t do this, we cannot ask them right now for money.’”
After the support Rockin’ the Park got last year, Redman says it’s a major disappointment to lose the chance to build on it.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” said Redman. “Everyone that went last year had the best time and it is something that I definitely felt was going to get stronger and larger.”
“I know people are disappointed. They understand, but they are disappointed just like we are that we can’t go ahead with it.”
For their first year of holding Rockin’ the Park, Redman says they exceeded expectations and had high hopes for the second annual event.
“It was good last year,” said Redman. “We didn’t make a lot of money because expenses are very high when you’re putting on a concert of that magnitude and that’s why you need sponsorship.”
“With 600 people last year we broke even and actually made a little bit — $5,000 — but our goal is to raise money to improve the rec facilities in this town.”
“We were hoping that this year we would hit 1,000 people,” said Redman. “So it’s disappointing.”
The amount of effort and time that goes into an event like this makes losing it even more painful, says Redman.
“Basically when the last one ended, we took a couple months off and then you start planning again,” said Redman. “You pick a date and start looking for bands and negotiating with bands and that takes time.”
“Probably by November we were already looking at bands that we were going to pick and we were very excited about Sweet coming down, and Prism.”
In terms of an alternative event plan, Redman says they haven’t considered anything yet.
“We’re not looking at anything else concert wise,” said Redman.
“This was put on by the Esterhazy Recreation Fundraising Association so it’s a separate entity from the Town of Esterhazy.”
“As the rec. director for the Town of Esterhazy we probably could look at something virtually, but it’s just not the same.”
“And even to put on a concert still costs money and who is supposed to pay for that? For recreation we don’t want to lose money,” said Redman. “With anything I do as rec. director for the Town of Esterhazy I have to be able to break even.”
“Even as Esterhazy Recreation Fundraising Association president, I wanted to break even and there was a very big risk with the concert last year, but we took it and we were very happy.”
With the importance of following health and safety guidelines for protecting against Covid-19, Redman didn’t want to take any chances.
“It’s heartbreaking and disappointing, but there’s that risk,” said Redman.
“Even right now we look at what’s happening in La Loche and it’s scary because that’s how quickly Covid-19 can affect a small community.”
“So say someone in Esterhazy gets infected, in our little community obviously it can spread very quickly.”
“We wouldn’t want to do anything to put anyone in harm’s way,” said Redman.
It might take an extra year, but Redman knows when Rockin’ the Park returns it will build off the momentum of the first one.
“It was the best time last year,” said Redman. “That’s what was really special in the end, everyone there had just the best time.”
“We were really excited for this year and to help our rec. facilities , but that’s okay, we’ll just continue on for next year and make it bigger and better.”
