Having scanned through a publication issued for the purpose of promoting Penticton with area maps, advertising and marketing, I could find nothing on the South Okanagan Events Centre.
So I went on the internet and located the schedule of summer events for the SOEC, and other than the upcoming Cirque Du Soleil, which will be a fantastic program, and then Keith Urban in late September, it appears that the events centre has no other scheduled events. In essence, the centre will be shut down even though fixed and variable overhead costs continue on a daily basis.
I am aware of summer events that are going on at Mill Bay Casino, a small town approximately a three-hour drive south of Penticton, situated right next door to Lake Chelan. Mill Bay is able to provide summer entertainment at prices ranging from $25 to $75 covering well named entertainers such as Dwight Yoakam, The Doobie Brothers, The Drifters, Coasters and Platters, Kenny Rogers, The Temptations and the Four Tops, to name but a few. There is entertainment going on there every week this summer, right through to Sept. 17.
Being of the “older” generation, I for one would love to see groups like this come into Penticton. I have made enquiries into the cost associated with bringing in entertainers of this quality and I have been informed that the cost could be anywhere between $20,000 to $40,000.
It may be that Mill Bay Casino is using the entertainment as a “loss leader”, but even if the SOEC contracted for the same or similar events into Penticton, and only sold say 2,500 tickets at similar prices, the SOEC would not only make money, but they would contribute to and help support the spinoffs to local hotels and motels, restaurants, etc.
I am led to believe that the people who oversee and control the entertainment coming into the SOEC have already turned down Kiss, so the question must be asked: what’s going on?
Bill Waddell
Penticton