Town inks agreement to bring Centerfield Music Festival to St. Paul

The Town of St. Paul Mayor & Council have come to an agreement with Troubadour Event Management to bring the Centerfield Music Festival to Jaycee Ballpark for June of 2018. “It’s an economic development opportunity and we’re excited for them to bring the festival and do that work for us,” Mayor Maureen Miller says she is thrilled to have the Centerfield Music Festival in town.

“Since it is a two-day event, like it was last year, we hope that will be an economic generator of people coming to town for those two days. Using our campgrounds, our hotels, our restaurants and just getting to see what St. Paul is all about,” as a music destination the community will see some positive outcomes from the festivals, explains Mayor Miller.

To get ahead of any concerns residents may have in regards to the disturbance a music festival may cause, the mayor says Council is already on top of things. “We definitely listened to the community, regarding the event location. That came from multiple levels, within the community and the neighbouring area. We are giving fair notice that it is going to be an event that will be happening there,” Mayor Miller says there is a cut-off for music of 11:00 pm. The Town hopes to have the area clear of concert goers by midnight. “Now residents will know exactly how long they will be compromised for. That might have been a little loose before, we set some actual parametres for our local area to know exactly what to expect.” With knowledge of the event and its shut down time, the mayor believes the community will be on board for the festival, “hopefully they can see the greater picture of the economic development and the exposure of our community.”

The Town has agreed to a one-year contract with Troubadour Event Management, with the possibility of extending that contract. “Troubadour would like a multi-year deal, that’s for sure. The agreement is set so that Troubadour actually pays for the facility that they are using, they’re paying for their policing, they’re using a lot of their non-profit organizations to assist in that. It’s a reciprocal agreement,” Mayor Miller believes with the new structure to the agreement this year’s festival will be more evenly beneficial to all parties; rather than one-sided. “The original event there was $50,000 put in and then there was the giving of some of the facilities. I believe that number kind of ballooned and our community was very concerned about that. Now, actually putting a number to it and they’re paying as anyone else would.” The mayor assures Troubadour Event Management will be paying for the use of the ball diamond and the facilities. “This way it’s much more feasible for us to support it.”

“We would like to see how it turns out this year, having a reciprocal agreement, before heading into a multi-year contract,” the mayor explains Council has also asked Troubadour Event Management to do some more research into the event than they had in previous years. “They’ll find some avenues to find out where people are coming from and their feedback from the event.” The Town will also do their own market research to ensure the event is as much of a success as it is displayed, “so entering into another agreement we will have that information to support us.”

The acts for this year’s festival have yet to be announced, “we’ve been told there’s some pretty big names,” the mayor says she just as excited as everyone else for the announcement. In the past, Brett Kissel has been the headliner for the event. At the time of this publication it is unknown if he will be returning to perform at the festival.

*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this article itnwas stated that Brett Kissel would be performing. This has not been confirmed and as such the article has been amended.