City officials are predicting a surplus of $10,709 for Summer in the Park after running deficits the past number of years.
A budget of $579,224 has been set, with the city contributing $80,000 to that amount.
Entertainment and programming will eat up $425,419, while ticket sales to musical acts are expected to contribute $326,000.
The estimate assumes 80 per cent and 75 per cent of capacity ticket sales for the Friday and Saturday evening concerts.
"Hosting the headline musical entertainment at the Memorial Gardens limits the potential concert attendance to 4,800 but introduces the opportunity for multiple paid concert acts, while weatherproofing the concerts," says a staff report by Erin Vaughan. "The headline musical entertainment is now like a traditional concert with assigned seating versus an open area concert. Patrons will be required to purchase an assigned seat."
You'll now have to buy a separate ticket to each concert and the ticket prices, depending on seat location, are $40, $45, $50 and $100 plus ticketing fees and HST.
Tickets can only be purchased online or at the North Bay Battalion Box Office.
The Friday lineup includes American pop-funk band DNCE, Canadian support act Scott Helman, and opening acts of Canadian Jonathan Roy plus an unnamed local band.
The Committee has decided to move the festival to Thomson Park where outdoor programming will be combined with indoor concerts.
New this year is a Silent Dance Party. It is an event where people dance to music listened to on wireless headphones worn by participants rather than using a conventional speaker system. Dancers can access three channels that three separate DJs broadcast over at the same time.
"Silent Dance Parties are becoming popular at music festivals as they allow dancing to continue past noise curfews," continues the report. "Summer in the Park has never hosted anything like this since its inception in 2007. This will be something completely new to Northern Ontario. The Silent Dance Party will be held indoors at Memorial Gardens and will utilize the staging setup from the Friday and Saturday night concerts. The Committee is still determining whether this will be a free evening or if we will be charging a nominal fee."
Daytime programming consists of numerous free-of-charge activities that include an inflatable land, face painting, magician, interactive reptile shows, children’s mascot, yoga in the park, CAA tumbler giveaway, colouring contest, piano in the park, food & product vendors, Quench Buggy, button making station, the Cogeco trailer and more.
The partnership with the DIA will continue as the downtown will be hosting their Free-4- All Weekend activities. There are plans for a free shuttle.
