Pan Am aboriginal festival attracts less-than-expected crowds

The executive producer of the Aboriginal Pavilion, a partner celebration of the Pan Am Games, says low attendance, which has resulted in a slew of media attention, is simply the result of growing pains.

“We’re the new kids on the block,” Cynthia Lickers-Sage tells Yahoo Canada News. “This is the first time the Pan Am Games have ever embraced an Aboriginal Pavilion and we’re working through all the kinks and bumps.”

Reports have focused on disappointed vendors, who’ve come from across Canada and shelled out big bucks to sell their wares at the 10-day Toronto event, only to be disappointed by a low turnout.

Along with an artisan market, the Aboriginal Pavilion features hours of nightly performances along with food vendors. A concert by electronic group A Tribe Called Red attracted 1,400 people to the pavilion, making it the most popular event of the festival. Pavilion officials are hoping a powwow on Saturday will also draw big crowds.

Some blame a lack of advertising, competition from other Pan Am events and the secluded location of the pavilion, which is situated at Toronto’s sprawling Fort York National Historic Site. (Organizers have pushed the hashtag #followtheribbon, which encourages people to follow a path of ribbons that lead from Pan Am Park, which is located across the street from the pavilion.) One vendor was reported to have relocated to Nathan Phillips Square in downtown, the bustling cultural hub of the games, only to be told to pack up and leave or he would be arrested.

Lickers-Sage says all the negative press has helped things shift.

“For us, this has been a blessing,” she says. “It puts a face to the pavilion. We’ve been pushing to get people here and it’s working.”

She says numbers are steadily increasing, with over 500 attendees on Tuesday, and 700 on Wednesday.

As for what they can learn for next time, Lickers-Sage says organizers will be sure to engage more thoroughly with communities, though she adds it will be easier to assess what could be done better once the event is over. She says that most of the visitors in the last few days have been non-aboriginal, which was the goal of the pavilion.

“Let’s use this as a springboard because our numbers are going up,” she says.
“Everyone is feeling excited and happy. My heart just warms. Everyone’s banding together.”

Though ticket sales were slow prior to the games, over one million tickets have been sold for the Pan Am Games. Crowds are gathering in droves every night for free concerts at Nathan Phillip Square, which feature performers from around the world.