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Damned if we do and damned if we don't

Like everyone else in town I was excited at the idea of having a jazz festival come to town over a long weekend. I was hoping that this could grow into a destination event for the resort.

Like everyone else in town I was excited at the idea of having a jazz festival come to town over a long weekend. I was hoping that this could grow into a destination event for the resort.

After all, there is no escaping the fact that Whistler's continued success must include new things to attract people. And we must attract new people - not just outdoor adventure-seeking travellers, but also more families, more revellers, more LGBT visitors, more people with pets, more, more, more.

Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking of all the people we need to reach out to and attract.

It was very disappointing then to see some of the ticketed jazz festival events so poorly attended. It was clear that a great deal of planning had gone into the event, recognized talent was playing, workshops were well attended - on the face of it, it looked like it had all the elements of success.

As we know, it ran into a significant snag at the 11 th hour with the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch deciding that the festival should be allowed to sell alcohol "stadium style" - which would have allowed spectators to get a drink and then wander back to their piece of lawn to enjoy it.

The decision left a lot of people shaking their heads, wondering at the clear disconnect between some institutional decision-making and the real world.

We were told safety was the main issue. In some venues I can absolutely see that being an issue, but at this jazz festival, in this venue, it didn't make sense in my mind.

In the last several days we have also heard about the recommendations coming out of the investigation into the Stanley Cup riots in June. Vancouver's police Chief Jim Chu suggested that some large gatherings in Vancouver should be banned and access to liquor tightly controlled at public events.

Obviously I am not comparing the jazz festival and the hockey riot, but I think it needs to be recognized that we already have the most archaic liquor laws in Canada. I'm not sure they can be any more restrictive that those forced now on event planners. And the hockey event was "dry." No one was serving alcohol there.

I'm not advocating that people should just be able to wander around with an alcoholic drink in their hands, but surely there is a happy medium here. Cannot the event be looked at and then a sensible solution be found? Maybe it is a good idea to ban or restrict alcohol at something like an outdoor party for a hockey game, as Chu suggests, given that younger males are likely to attend and - I'm not telling any tales out of school here when I say they are more likely to cause trouble.

But jazz festivalgoers are a pretty safe bet, I think.

If Whistler is to pursue its "Cultural Tapestry" platform do we not need to be increasing the number of "lead" events on offer?

"Only in B.C. are jazz festivals subject to this kind of restriction," said festival organizer Arnold Schwisberg, who also happens to be a lawyer specializing in liquor law.

Ontario has already seen the light recently and broadened its consideration of where alcohol may be served on special occasions.

I don't believe the fact that people couldn't get a glass of wine to enjoy with their cheese created the low-ticket sales for some of the events at the jazz festival.

It appears that the populace is, after a summer of mostly great outdoor music, used to the events being free. Perhaps I am simplifying it but the jams at the Village Square were very well attended compared to the ticked events at the newly-opened Whistler Olympic Plaza.

Currently there is no firm plan to have another free concert series next year.

In "A Tapestry of Place," the document drawn up by Steven Thorne Consulting as a map of how to build place-based cultural tourism, there is no clear statement on whether events in Whistler should be free or ticketed, but one suggestion put forth is for Whistler to look to the Centrum model for some guidance.

Centrum is a gathering place for artists in Port Townsend, Washington State.

"Over the past three decades Centrum has gathered hundreds of thousands of individuals - great artists, creative thinkers, ardent students, and passionate fans - who have transformed Fort Worden into a legendary site of creative learning and interaction," states its website.

In this model there is a large component of programming for participants with "myriad forms of music, dance, writing, visual arts, and theater, led by master artists from around the region and world. Often these gatherings feature major festivals and public performances drawing thousands from around the region to McCurdy Pavilion and the Wheeler Theater. Centrum provides artist residencies and creative gatherings devoted to new work and new ideas."

And the performances given, for the most part, are ticketed not free.

It has been a wonderful summer of entertainment, but now is the time to debrief on the free concert model and consider if this is the way forward for Whistler.

But how sad it will be to have the Plaza fenced off, to loose the free flow of kids running from the playground to the lawn to dance with abandon to whatever music beat is on offer, to gather with friends around the fireplace with a hot drink and sway to melodies, to lounge in the colourful Adirondack chairs and simply sit back and enjoy the view and the music in a true community legacy from the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.