Dylan Guenther: Halifax’s Economic Hero
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis, and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts, and business news in the region. Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter based in Halifax.
When Dylan Guenther scored during 3-on-3 overtime to give Canada another World Junior gold, Scotiabank Centre in Halifax erupted in celebration.
Another thing that erupted was the city’s downtown economy. After the thrilling win, many Halifax hockey fans went out for post-game drinks, or simply stayed longer at the bar where they were watching the game.
What a bonus that one goal by a 19-year-old gave to bars and restaurants Thursday night. What do you think a typical bar would look like during a weeknight in early January? Guenther made sure it would be atypical for all the right reasons.
Obviously, Guenther isn’t an economy nerd like I am. The needs of the Halifax business community were likely far from his mind when he scored that goal. But it’s proof that giving people something to celebrate is good for business.
Let’s say the outcome was reversed last night. Let’s say David Jiricek scored to give Czechia the 3-2 win and the gold medal. Few in that arena would have gone out after to celebrate. The bars, where thousands would have been watching on TV, would likely have emptied quickly (except, maybe, for hardcore fans drowning their sorrows).
Even people watching at home probably stayed up later with the excitement, and to watch the game highlights on television. I imagine pizza places were busy making deliveries atypical of a usual early-January weeknight.
If Czechia won, they would have robbed downtown businesses of who knows how much money. Dylan Guenther gave Downtown Halifax a gift worth thousands of dollars.
I speak from experience.
When I was just 16, my family and I flew from Labrador to Halifax to watch the 2003 World Juniors. It was the first time the city hosted such an event and the atmosphere might have been even more electric back then.
I saw how packed downtown was after each Canada win. When Canada beat the Americans that year, some friends and I walked through the streets in awe of the crowds. A lot of money would have exchanged hands that night.
Unfortunately, I was also in the arena in 2003, when Canada lost the gold medal game in heart-wrenching fashion to Ovechkin and Russia. Downtown was a whole lot quieter that night.
A lot of those good memories from 20 years ago have also been tainted after it was revealed last year that some players from the 2003 team were, allegedly, involved in a group sexual assault. Halifax police are still investigating.
While watching the World Juniors this year it was clear that I’ve had the economy on my mind too much lately. With most people simply focused on hockey, I was thinking about ways a city could replicate the spinoffs from such an event.
This tournament took place at a time when restaurants, hotels, and shops are bracing themselves for the doldrums. It’s winter, it’s post-holidays, people’s wallets are drained from gift-buying. The World Juniors literally started the day after Christmas.
This tournament turned the usual economic realities upside down. I can’t count how many interviews I’ve conducted over the past three years where someone in the restaurant or retail industry told me about the dreaded early winter and how they rely on big business during Christmas to get them through the slower January and February months. It always irked me that we have our economic calendars so skewed. Christmas is an absolute glutton of a holiday.
But the world juniors proved that we could cause our own economic boon if we want to. I would argue we should do this more often. Atlantic Canada should put on more events during these “down” times that get people excited and make tourists want to travel here, even in the winter.
I’m clearly not the first to think about the need for more off-season revenue. During the world junior tournament, I watched some creative advertisements from P.E.I. That province has often been known as a Jekyll-and-Hyde place: during the summer the small island is filled with international tourists, hotels, amusement parks, and restaurants. In the winter, with the visitors gone home, the whole island feels like a ghost town.
But these new ads are showing P.E.I. as a destination for tourists looking for a fun winter experience. I applaud the province for its initiative. It’s something we desperately need.
Small businesses have been through hell for three years because of Covid-19 and its domino effects. One bar manager recently told me the crowds that she saw during the tournament were reminiscent of the good old “normal” times.
So maybe that is a key to our continued economic recovery. Let’s give people more reasons to celebrate, more reasons to visit our cities outside of the summer.
Granted this type of attitude comes with risk. Trying to pull off a big event or major celebration can be an expensive gamble. The World Juniors, for the record, was not a gamble when Halifax and Moncton put in the bids. The tournament is wildly popular in Canada and both cities have a proven track record.
But other major events often come with debate and concern in terms of cost versus benefit. Just look at what cities have gone through hosting the Olympics (ask any Montrealer who was around in 1976 whether they think it was a good benefit to host).
To use a local example, we have the money-losing Halifax Convention Centre. Sure, it brings in crowds, and those crowds will spend in city, but is it worth a $7.5-million deficit?
And since we already built the thing, Halifax should have a collective mindset of attracting as many conventions as possible. So, somewhere between the convention centre and the world juniors is the right balance between risk and reward.
I would love to see Halifax host a major international film festival that would rival TIFF. What would it take to grow Fin to that level? Given Nova Scotia’s focus on bringing major movie productions here, it would make perfect sense, and continue promoting us as a destination for filming location. Most importantly, it will be sure to attract film buffs from around the world.
Granted, this idea of mine leans heavily toward risky and expensive. But given the fact that Dylan Guenther and the world juniors showed we can be prosperous even in winter, we should all be in the mood to think big.