Pam Carter – Community Impact

The festival has a huge social and economic impact on Orillia, can you give us an idea of its size and importance?

The festival I would say is the largest non-profit Arts event in the RT07, the regional tourism area that Mariposa is in. We have about 30,000 people who go through the site over the course of the weekend, so it has a huge economic impact to the community.

There’s approximately 2.6 million dollars in collateral spending, so certainly the service industries like the hotel, we have close to a zero vacancy rate in the hotels and bed & breakfasts in Orillia. Gas stations, restaurants, all sorts of spending, so certainly the economic impact over a three-day period is huge.

Mariposa also tries to use local suppliers as much as possible. We have a core of over 650 volunteers, probably 94% come from the Orillia area, so it’s hugely supported by the community. People take great pride and ownership in putting this festival on, and seeing that the gates open at four o’clock on Friday.

But I always say arts and culture spans all boundaries, it’s a place where people can come together over the course of the weekend, listen to music, it’s a safe place, they can put the rest of the world behind them for the weekend and have a great time. And you can see from the smiles when you look at the pictures – the smiles on people’s faces – that we’ve accomplished that.