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Thousands of people from the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), musicians, families, fans and media will be in Saskatoon this week for the Juno Awards.
That means hotels are filling up, restaurants will be busier and a whole host of events are planned.
Tourism Saskatoon president and CEO Todd Brandt says most hotel rooms in the downtown area are booked up at this point.
“We worked with the academy last year to set up industry room blocks in eight different properties around Saskatoon. Thrilled to know that those blocks are actually completely filled and some additional room blocks were added from another hotel property.”
That doesn’t mean nothing is available for anyone who might need a room.
“We have 5,200 hotel rooms in Saskatoon. There’s still lots of capacity at a lot of our hotel properties,” he explains.
Available rooms are mainly located around the north and south perimeters of the city. If anyone is having trouble finding something available, the Tourism Saskatoon website has a portal that links to all hotel properties.
At this point, Brandt says all of the economic spinoff could mean an additional $9 million to $10 million dollars for the city.
“We are going to measure and share the impacts a major event like the Juno Awards does in a destination like Saskatoon.”
There will also be a complement of volunteers around Saskatoon asking visitors to take surveys.
Tickets Still Available
Brandt adds that along with available hotel rooms, there are still tickets available for some of the public events, including the main awards show on Sunday.
“There are about 15 different options that people can buy tickets into…we still have good availability at all price levels for Sasktel Centre for the main awards show on Sunday night.”
Tickets are also still available for Juno Fest – various bands playing at local venues – and the Juno Cup hockey game on Thursday evening.
Juno Events Still Going Ahead
CKOM reached out to Juno event organizers to ask whether planned events would still take place, given the concern over coronavirus and infection rates.
CARAS provided us with the following statement:
The health, safety and well-being of everyone is of paramount importance to the CARAS organization. As it relates to COVID-19, we have been closely monitoring the position of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and other experts within our federal, provincial and municipal governing bodies. Based on the numerous consultations of relevant authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the risks associated with COVID-19 remain low for Canada and Canadian travelers. As such, we are proceeding as planned with The 49th annual JUNO Awards Broadcast and JUNO Week activities, scheduled to take place in Saskatoon, SK from March 9-15, 2020. We will continue to monitor developments and will act accordingly and advise if the situation changes.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Dr. Johnmark Opondo, the medical health officer for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) said the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Saskatoon and province-wide remains low and public events may go on as planned.
“At this time, Saskatchewan does not have a confirmed case of COVID-19, and the risk to Canadians remains low. SHA public health in Saskatoon recommends large gatherings like the Junos 20 (2020) awards proceed,” said Opondo.