JAZZ FEST WAS A SUCCESS

Here's a picture worth as it has been said, at least a thousand words!

This past weekend marked the third time since opening, the Kaslo Hotel had to hang out the enviable “No Vacancy” sign. What a success story, both for Jazz Fest AND the Kaslo Hotel. Similar success stories abound throughout small business in Kaslo, and I commend all of those who struggled through a huge amount of work to make locals and visitors alike WELCOME in our village. For those few who offered up grumpy service and negative comments, I can only hope your sales reconcili-ations at the end of this week reflect them. I did hear comments to that effect. Perhaps you might just shut the doors next year and have a happier weekend by yourselves.

On to the topic of Jazz Fest, here are a few of the notes from an interview I did just before this went to print, with Executive Director Jim Holland.

“The numbers were down, from 36-hundred paid tickets last year to about 33-hundred this year. That's a drop of about 18-thousand dollars. But I'm confident we'll break even”. Asked about a reported drop in the number of volunteers, Holland said “there were quite a few no-shows for the Monday tear-down”. In terms of the music though, Holland said the 2009 Jazz Fest was “a superb success”.

There was an 'all-ages' dance at the Legion Saturday, and the only thing I heard wasn't really a complaint...it was a comment from a neighbor, who reported to TSS “all we heard were people leaving”. (That says a LOT about all ages, said the old man, who congratulates everyone

who attended THAT venue as well!)

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and greeting people from across Western Canada and the United States who to a person, raved about Kaslo, it's people and businesses...save and except of course for the one noted above. And as for Kelly Fawcett of Nelson at the hotel, where there was a 45-minute lineup to get in, the group was astounding. Period.

I hope there will be a repeat performance by this group in our village sometime soon.

From a policing perspective, an RCMP member locally commented “there were no files generated (from Jazz Fest) and all in all “it was excellent”. “Totally different from May Days weekend”, he said.