Aug. 1, 2018 – Tyler Kula, The Sarnia Observer
Summer in Grand Bend is hanging on a little longer this year.
The Huron Country Playhouse theatre, normally shut for the season after Labour Day, is instead letting the shows go on – plying a $135,000 Celebrate Ontario grant into a Sept. 13-29 run of the Irving Berlin music Holiday Inn, for a community tourism promotion being dubbed Fall into Broadway.
“It is an experiment for us,” said Steven Karcher, executive director with the playhouse’s not-for-profit parent company Drayton Entertainment.
“We saw this as an opportunity not just to extend the (typically June-August) theatre season, but also partner with the community at large to cultivate a broader message that Grand Bend is not just a summer destination,” he said, noting beach weather in September also tends to be pretty good.
Drayton has teamed up with 11 Lambton Shores and South Huron businesses that are offering wine tastings, brunch with the actors, and a Broadway-themed movie festival during the two-plus weeks Holiday Inn is on stage.
Hopes are to attract up to 10,000 tourists in September, potentially adding $2 million to the local economy, Karcher said.
“Which is significant where the bulk of the tourism season is centred on a13-week (June-August) period,” he said.
The Broadway show, meanwhile, will be making its Canadian debut, he said.
“That in and of itself I think is something that will be intriguing for people.”
The provincial government grant goes towards production costs, Karcher said, including funding the sets, costumes and actors’ pay.
“We’re a not-for-profit, a charitable organization,” he said. “It is a substantial risk for a charity to undertake an initiative like this. But… it is a calculated risk, and it’s one we hope will pay dividends – not just for the theatre, but for the community.”
Attendance at the Grand Bend theatre so far this year has been strong, he said, trending towards the record-setting 65,000 tickets bought in 2017.
Tourism Sarnia-Lambton is interested to see Fall into Broadway’s impact, said Beverley Horodyski, product development coordinator.
“We’re excited about it. It’s new and I think it will get visitors and tourists looking at that destination,” she said, noting the tourism agency worked with the local businesses to help develop their “encore experiences” for the promotion.
Details are at fallintobroadway.com.
“It’s very important because we want visitors from outside Lambton County to think of us as not just a summer destination,” Horodyski said. “We’re a fall destination now, where there are more things to do and have been for a number of years.”
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