Calgary Zoo’s Illuminasia festival cancelled
Posted Jan 25, 2017 4:58 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A festival that lit up the Calgary Zoo grounds has been cancelled, with officials blaming the poor economy.
Illuminasia is a complex event to host every year and spokesperson Lindsey Galloway said it wasn’t worth it anymore.
“We were importing lanterns from China that were special made for us, along with a crew of a dozen artisans who came over to set them up for display,” he said. “It just made it a very expensive proposition.”
Last year’s event attracted 41,000 visitors, while the 2015 debut had about 60,000 guests.
Even with that encouraging attendance, it wasn’t enough.
“We’re not a festival organization, we’re a conservation organization,” he said. “So it wasn’t even about breaking even, we actually lost a little bit of money both years, but that’s just not how we want to spend our resources.”
Otherwise, he said the economy doesn’t appear to be impacting the zoo, the most visited one in Canada last year.
Galloway said plans to revive the festival likely won’t happen for another two years.
