Tuesday marks the halfway point for the Stars and Thunder Music and Fireworks festival in Timmins and organizers are preparing to declare the event a success.
It's been largely sitting and standing room only at Hollinger Park over the past few nights, with people lining up as early as 11 a.m. to claim the best seats for that night's headliner.
"The festival has been going well," said Steve Black, Timmins mayor.
"Large crowds every night and they seem to be getting larger every night, so the turnout has been fantastic."
Whether it's the crowds packing the gated sections of the park, or vying for a peek at the big screens from the free access area, the mayor said Stars and Thunder is shaping up to be an event to remember.
"People from out of town have been saying, 'your whole city should be here, you know we're from Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston, London, wherever they come from, for $240 for the week, with these fireworks and the entertainment lineup you've got up? We don't know how you're putting this on and how the rest of your community isn't out here', so I think it's been pretty successful," Black said.
As crowds continue to come out, the city is turning its sights to the future.
"I'm hoping that this one here, which is the grand-daddy of them all, will kick-start something bigger moving forward," said Guy Lamarche, Timmins Tourism manager.
Lamarche said people are still scrambling to buy tickets and he's optimistic the festival will shake off the long-held notion big events don't work in Timmins.
"I think that we can all see the value that festivals and events can have on the municipality. Not only from a quality of life standpoint for those of us who call Timmins home, but also as an economic engine," he said.
"A lot of money has been spent in a lot of areas of our city this week."
The organizers may not be ready to declare Stars and Thunder a resounding success just yet, but they are hopeful the rest of this week continues the trend seen over the first four days.
