For a second year in a row, Tourism Sarnia-Lambton [TSL] has landed a holiday show.
A Christmas Rock Story: A Holiday Circus Spectacular! is coming to Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia three days before Christmas, on Friday, December 22.
TSL Executive Director Mark Perrin said last year's show, by performers from the same Las Vegas company, was a huge success.
"The shows are completely different compared to last year, it basically is a whole different storyline, new cirque performers, and twisting in a little more of the holiday music and focused on a rock story," said Perrin. "It puts all the elements of Christmas, rock, and holiday cirque together for a great show."
In addition to holiday music and a cast of award-winning acrobats, daredevils, and circus-style performers, the show will feature holograms, projection mapping and lasers.
The story follows a world-famous rockstar named Max, who seeks refuge in a theatre debuting a holiday show when he's riding a motorcycle and a storm hits.
Tickets go on sale this Thursday, October 12.
"It will be set up online through the Progressive Auto Sales Arena," Perrin said. "So, you'll visit the Sarnia Sting and they'll have the links there. We'll have it posted on our page as well, but you can also go to the box office at 10 a.m. on Thursday and get tickets in person if you can't go online for some reason," Perrin said.
City staff are recommending the request be denied at the October 16 meeting.
Speaking with Sarnia News Today after the show was announced, Perrin said everyone needs to work together to get these events and make them successful.
"We hope to continue to work with the City of Sarnia on these events and make sure they're affordable for when we're bidding on them to come. With this one... I think Tourism Sarnia-Lambton... we're going to basically budget for it. We are looking for sponsors, but we'll work within our budgets as well. We'll still work, hopefully, with the city. Hopefully, they still want to reconsider after we put in our rebuttal to their proposal and we'll see what happens," said Perrin.
In the report being presented to council on Monday, staff said TSL was invoiced just over $3,500 last year while the actual fees were just over $8,000 in 2022. The report also states that the invoiced fees for 2023 will amount to over $10,000.