Parking on Westerner Park grounds will go up to $4 starting on Jan. 1.
Higher utility bills and fewer Centrium bookings have forced the Westerner board to raise parking fees by one-third from the current $3, said chief executive officer John Harms.
With electricity costs almost doubling in the last four months, he added that the board considered various options and couldn’t find a better way to make up the budget.
Another factor has been dwindling concert bookings at the Centrium.
Hedley, which performed there in September 2010, was the last major musical act outside of Westerner Days concerts last summer.
Although Jerry Seinfeld drew thousands of people to the arena last month, Harms said no other entertainment acts are booked for the foreseeable future.
The facility used to get 12 to 14 concerts annually, compared to just two or three over the past year, said Harms. With the U.S. recession and the stronger Canadian dollar, fewer American performers seem to be touring through Alberta. Harms believes a lot of them “are happy to stay home.”
Of the acts that are touring, many seem to be after larger venues, such as those in Calgary or Edmonton, which hold 12,000 to 15,000 people, instead of the 6,000-seat Centrium.
Harms mentioned the local arena will be expanded to 7,100 seats next year when more than 1,000 seats are added to the west upper bowl area.
He hopes the dearth of Centrium bookings will be short-lived. Harms believes the successful Seinfeld performance “is putting Red Deer on the map” as the kind of place that appreciates comedy acts as well as musical ones.
Meanwhile, trade shows continue to be a strong presence at Westerner Park, said Harms, who hasn’t received any complaints yet about the higher parking charge.
While more people might decide to park elsewhere and walk onto the grounds, Harms said, “I believe that’s a lot of extra inconvenience for one additional dollar.”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com