When a recession wasn't going to stop the party on New Year's Eve
Ottawa Congress Centre party was expected to sell out in 1990, but maybe not as early as usual
At the Château Laurier in Ottawa, tickets to dinner and dancing on New Year's Eve in 1990 were long sold out.
This despite the recession that was underway, even if the federal finance minister had been reluctant to say the word.
At the city's Congress Centre, where a party was being set up the day before New Year's Eve in 1990, some 5,000 people were expected to ring in 1991.
Reporter Karen Mason said organizers were counting on selling all of their tickets, even if it was taking a little longer to happen.
'We'll be sold out'
"This year we'll be sold out the day of, the day before," party promoter Paul Howard told Mason. "The demand is strong, our economy's not that bad, and people are still looking for reasons to celebrate instead of burying their heads in the sand."
Mason said "dinner and dancing" at a local restaurant, which was shown on-camera but unnamed, was also likely to sell out.
A similar way of celebrating, at the Château Laurier ballroom, had already been sold out for two weeks, thanks to a "faithful clientele."
"We do enjoy quite a lot of repeat business," said Château spokesman Henning Fries. "Once you have reached a status of being the place to go on New Year's Eve, this will continue in the future."
Mason said other party planners suggested things could be different the next year — just not yet.
"If the recession is still around a year from now, more people will celebrate New Year's Eve at home," she said.
