Dave Young is the new manager of the Canalta Centre. (Photo Courtesy of Ross Lavigne)

By Chris Brown

Took over on Aug. 1

New Canalta Centre manager has big plans for the future

Aug 6, 2020 | 2:35 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s a new era for the Canalta Centre and its new manager and the City of Medicine Hat are thinking big.

After announcing in April it would not renew the contract with management company ASM, the city took over operations of the facility effective August 1.

The new manager of the facility is Dave Young, who has spent the past 23 years with the city’s parks and recreation department. He was the manager of the parks side for 17 years before overseeing the Family Leisure Centre for the past six years.

Young has a clear vision of what events he wants to bring to the Canalta Centre and how he wants to fill the seats — when he can. High on that list is country star Brad Paisley, whose March 13 concert was cancelled just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to rage that month.

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“We’re hoping that we can reconnect with Brad Paisley’s group and have him return to Medicine Hat at some point, hopefully on his next tour but right now what we’re being told is nobody’s talking about any kind of dates or booking any dates,” said Young.

He’s been able to tap into the connections that the Esplanade’s Trampas Brown has made in the entertainment community to look at future bookings. He’s also using the Esplanade’s show history and that of the Canalta Centre for guidance on what’s been most popular in the city in the past.

James Will, general manager of parks and recreation for the city, says the Canalta Centre will move away from the smaller-scale events.

“We’ve really taken the approach that we’re not going to put everything that we possibly can in the building. We’ going to be very systematic about what we’re looking for we know that the bigger events draw bigger crowds when we’re in a position to be able to do that safely and focus on events that will draw not only Medicine Hat but the surrounding areas.

Will adds it’s long been a problem to get Medicine Hat on the map for the entertainment industry.

“We’ve really taken the approach that Medicine Hat is open for business. We’re certainly willing to work with promoters and bring bigger names to Medicine Hat,” he said. “We want to see the facility well utilized but we also want to make sure that it’s done in a way that we’re bringing entertainment into the community that the community finds valuable and that they’re wanting to come out and see and that’s meeting their needs for spending their entertainment dollars.”

Young adds the city is looking to move away from Ticketmaster and transition ticket sales for its own events and Medicine Hat Tigers games to the city’s own tixx.ca system.

The one event currently on the Canalta Centre calendar isn’t likely to be there for long.

Thunderbuck in the Badlands is set for Sept. 26, but Young says with current Alberta Health Services guidelines only allowing for 100 people in the building, cancellation is little more than a formality.

Hiring for different parts of the Canalta Centre is in a holding pattern for the time being. With SEAC hockey tryouts coming soon some operations staff are putting in the ice this week, but guest services and food services positions are largely unfilled at the moment. Young said they’ll rely on staff that worked last year and that a recruitment drive will happen in the next couple of months.

Whoever that staff is, Young says they’ll be joining an enthusiastic team excited about the new journey.

“We don’t know what the future looks like right now, we’re optimistic that we will see something in this building, hopefully in the near future.”

“We’re going to be focusing on guest experience when they come to the building. Hopefully they seem some new smiles and things new that are in the building and hopefully their experience is what they’re expecting.”

Canalta Costs

Will said the uncertainty of the concert and event scene was a large factor in the city deciding to not renew with ASM. Paying a company to manage a facility that could be sitting empty for months if not a year didn’t make much sense.

He adds cost savings can be found through synergies with already existing city departments, but that ultimately most facilities like the Canalta Centre will typically run at a deficit.

“With overhead and a structure of this size there are a lot of costs involved with operating it. And you certainly try to recoup those costs and maintain an operating deficit that’s planned for and budgeted for. That’s really the approach that we’re taking.”