Edmonton’s nighttime entertainment and hospitality venues need more support if the city is going to host big events like the Juno Awards next year, industry advocates say.
At a meeting Wednesday, venue operators and business associations called on city councillors and administration to create a special office or person to directly support the nighttime industry.
Puneeta McBryan, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, said the city’s existing economic development staff are overstretched on daytime operations alone, and said that nighttime industries need help.
“Dedicated resources to this are absolutely essential,” McBryan told council’s executive committee. “We’re losing venues. If we haven’t already lost them, we’re at risk of losing them.”
McBryan said that potential gap in venues concerns her as Edmonton gets ready to host the Juno Awards next year.
“I’m frankly really nervous about how many off-site…
