The Town of LaSalle is seeking interested groups, organizations and individuals who want to host public events at the new waterfront event centre.
The Town is seeking applicants to submit an Expression of Interest for hosting a public event at the Event Centre, to be scheduled in 2023 and/or 2024.
Scott Bisson, Manager of Culture and Recreation for the Town of LaSalle, says what they're trying to do is give groups and organizations that do public events a chance to use the space.
"Once we receive all those expressions of interest, we're going to go through and determine which events we'll be going forward with and try to build a schedule of great events for the community," he says.
Priority will be given to events that are open to the general public and enhances the community's access to unique and diverse events.
The Event Centre is along the waterfront in the former Westport Marina dry boat storage unit at 970 Front Rd.
The 21,500 square feet of space has been transformed and features a food servery, barrier-free washrooms, second floor meeting room, and large glass doors to allow for indoor and outdoor use extending to a plaza that overlooks the Detroit River.
Bisson says this is a big open space that's really a blank canvas.
"There's a variety of opportunities for different organizers. We do have some large glass garage door style that can open, so depending on the weather you might be able to have those open to create an open air environment for your event. But obviously for inclement weather, we could close those," he says.
The $50-million waterfront project will see an almost 60-acre waterfront property along Front Road transformed to become a community hub, meeting place, and a big destination in LaSalle.
LaSalle waterfront (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)
Bisson says the hope is to have town organized events and third party events throughout the year at the centre.
"Either support businesses through markets or coming out for beer, wine or spirit type festivals, or other seasonal festivals," he says. "We're looking forward to seeing what the community puts forward through the expression of interest."
Interested parties must complete and submit the Expression of Interest Submission Form by 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 25.
All EOI requests will be reviewed by Town of LaSalle administration between Nov. 28, 2022 and Dec. 9, 2022.
Groups that are not prepared to submit a proposal at this time, can submit a proposal in 2023. Additional requests to host an event will begin to be accepted in January 2023 and will be considered based on the availability and suitability of the event.
Visit www.lasalle.ca/eventcentre for more information about the EOI and the Event Centre.