New holiday tradition? Charlottetown packs 3 Christmas events into 1 busy weekend
'We worked hard to promote this weekend as a packaged deal'
Pre-Christmas fun came all at once in Charlottetown this year.
The annual Charlottetown Christmas Parade, Victorian Christmas market, and tree lighting ceremony aren't typically packed into the same weekend — but, this year the City of Charlottetown partnered with event organizers to try something new.
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Wayne Long, the city's events development officer, says they've "collaged all of those events together" to make one large Christmas spectacle to kick off the holiday season in November's final weekend.
"We worked hard to promote this weekend as a packaged deal … families are often looking for opportunities that are unique and traditional, and we are able to offer that into one larger package," he said.
"I'm not going to say it will drive thousands of people but you need to start somewhere and there are definitely visitors and hotel rooms sold."
Attracting tourists in the shoulder season
Long said the city partnered with Discover Charlottetown, several hotels and Downtown Charlottetown Inc. to drive more visitors to see the capital city on the eve of the holiday season.
"You need to be creative and you need to think outside of the box and that's what we've done here," he added.
"It's the shoulder tourism season and we feel that this is a product, an event and an opportunity for traffic to come to the capital city."
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