Tens of thousands of country music fans have converged onto Edmonton in anticipation of country music star, Morgan Wallen’s two back-to-back sold-out show at Commonwealth Stadium.
Fans are coming from across Canada and even from the United States to see this concert.
According to Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels Ltd., there are pretty much zero hotel rooms available in the Edmonton area for Friday or Saturday night.
“The last time Commonwealth sold out, with 66,000 fans was the U2 360 tour,” Chris Yeung, with Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels Ltd., said of the 2011 concert at Edmonton’s stadium.
“I don’t have any statistics for hotels back then, but I suspect they were quite full.”
On Friday afternoon Global News did an online search around the region and found only a handful of rooms available — with the lowest rates going for over $1,000 for one night. Rooms at hotels like the Holiday Inn were listed for more than $1,200.
Music fans Lukas Kirschner and Quinn Hanks made the trip from Pemberton, B.C. for the concert. They couldn’t get a room in Edmonton but planned to stay in the area until Sunday.
“We do have a rental car though, so we might go down to Red Deer,” Kirschner said.
It isn’t just concert-goes filling up Edmonton’s hotel rooms.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus has meeting at a downtown Edmonton hotel all week ahead of the fall sitting of Parliament.
Nearby in the Ice District, Oktoberfest is underway in the fan park beside Rogers Place and organizers for it said they nearly couldn’t find rooms for the event’s artists.
Yeung said this weekend is the biggest convergence of events in Edmonton in the past five years.
“Not only hotels, but we look at restaurants, we look local businesses, everybody’s going to benefit from these major events that come in.”
The Edmonton Police Service said on Friday and Saturday, traffic around Commonwealth Stadium will be impacted between 3:30 p.m. and midnight for the concerts.
In addition to significant traffic delays on 112 Avenue, police said Stadium Road will be closed between 92 Street and 112 Avenue during that time.
Yeung said for this two-night country concert, Edmonton can expect to see between $3 to $8 million in economic impact.
Meaning Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem tour will be far from a problem for local businesses.
— With files from Karen Bartko, Global News