Around 10,000 Hatters attended Together Again festival downtown

By COLLIN GALLANT on September 29, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Upwards of 10,000 Hatters attended the Together Again weekend festival held downtown in mid-September, put on by the City of Medicine Hat and mostly paid for by a federal government grant.

That estimate was given at Monday’s meeting of council’s public services committee along with an overview of the first summer season of the new Towne Square event space.

A post-event analysis of the event came along side a first-year review of the downtown market and festival space that anchored one end of the festival staged along two blocks of First Street.

“It went over a nine-hour period, so many people coming and going, and a quick survey of the downtown business community is that it had a very positive effect,” said Aaron Nelson, a manager in the community development office, which organized the event.

Four bands played during the day, which also included vendors market, a ceremony to acknowledge new citizenships, and the dedication of the Cenotaph as a municipal historic resource. A dinner along Finlay Bridge was staged for 600 people by the Root Cellar with food donations from the business community specific for the event. The night ended with fireworks set off over the river from Parkview Drive near Finlay Bridge.

“It’s maybe the largest event that the city has ever produced,” said Nelson, who added almost every department of the city was involved in planning or day-of activities.

Committee members also expressed satisfaction with the event, the planning for which only began in June after the city secured a $379,000 grant from the federal government.

Committee chair, Coun. Ramona Robins said the downtown core has appeared busier this summer compared to previous years, likely due to the Towne Square development.

“We’ve ended up with a vibrant space that the community uses for many, many activities,” said Nelson. “We’re hoping that more and more occurs next summer now that we’ve got a good operation base in place.”

Along with Together Again, since June, Towne square hosted a charity run, a street hockey tournament, talks about trail systems, arts presentations, a Stampede breakfast in partnership with the nearby Mezz Restaurant, and Ribfest. That’s along with smaller retail rentals of the market stalls.

“Most of the time it’s not programmed,” he said “It doesn’t stop being used if nothing is planned.”

A digital parking pilot showed the lot had 120 common and 600 casual users that used the phone application over the summer.

That’s along with 13 monthly or annual permits, about one third of the available spaces.

Issues at the space involve “occasional” use as an overnight shelter by homeless population, and vandalism of portable washrooms that were installed in July.

That damage typically involved people breaking in after hours, so the decision was made to open them 24-hours this month with evaluation,

Specific to Towne Square, the current budget shows $11,000 in revenue over six months and expenses of $42,000, mostly in first-year set up costs.

“We’re done with that now,” said Nelson who expects the 2023 budget to reflect $38,000 in combined parking and facility rental revenue.

“There will always be critics about change, and some skepticism about this spot,” said Coun. Allison Knodel. “It’s quite phenomenal about how it has evolved in such a short amount of time.”

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