Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival draws about 13,500 attendees

Even a hurricane couldn’t stop this year’s Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival from being a thundering success, said Michael Kissinger, founder and artistic director.

About 13,500 people turned out for the main festival from Aug. 24-26, and about 500 showed up for the launch of Jazz Education Night on Aug. 23, Kissinger said. The events took place in Vancouver’s Esther Short Park.

“It’s probably one of the best events we’ve ever had,” Kissinger said. “Great crowds. Great music. Over the three days, I think it was one of the best in terms of attendance that we’ve ever had.”

The weather was nice in Vancouver for the event, but Hurricane Isaac almost stopped a member of one of the headline bands, the Yellowjackets, from getting to the festival from the East Coast, he said.

“It was disrupting flights from the East Coast, and his almost got canceled, but he made it — and nobody knew,” Kissinger said with a laugh. “Here, it was great weather. Everything went really smoothly.”

In this, its 15th year, the festival sold 1,092 VIP tickets. Organizers are still tallying exactly how many regular tickets sold at the gate and what the revenues were, but so far the numbers look very good, Kissinger said.

“Our wine sales were huge this year,” Kissinger said. “And we had 10 new sponsors. It was a good musical experience and a great time for everybody.”