Carnaval Maine could bring visitors, revenue to Portland in winter off-season

illustration of hills at eastern promenade in portland

Courtesy / Shamrock Sports & Entertainment A rendering of the Carnaval Maine site on Portland's Eastern Promenade shows the snowboarding rail and the giant, inflatable igloo.

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By William Hall

Organizers of Carnaval Maine expect the outdoor winter festival in Portland, planned for Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2020, to attract over 10,000 people to the city's Eastern Promenade.

One-quarter of them probably will be well-heeled visitors who stay for the weekend and bring revenue to the region’s hotels and restaurants, Brian Corcoran, CEO of Shamrock Sports & Entertainment, told Mainebiz last week.

“This festival will deliver an affluent audience with higher overall spend per attendee,” he said by email. From a look at the line-up of events, you get a sense why Corcoran is optimistic.

Among the highlights: a snowboarding competition sponsored by Newry ski resort Sunday River, a professional ice sculpture contest, outdoor illuminations and art, space for families to snowshoe and sled, and the Maine Bicentennial Snow Ball, a gala with dancing, Maine craft beers and food from local restaurants, all inside an inflatable, insulated, 400-person-capacity “igloo.”

In addition to Corcoran’s marketing firm, which is coordinating the event, backers include Norway Savings Bank and the Maine Office of Tourism, five other sponsors and a dozen local breweries and restaurants such as Luke's Lobster and Allagash Brewing Co.

A Nov. 22 news release from Shamrock said the event "will celebrate Maine being a state for all seasons," and the event comes during one of the year's usual low points for the hospitality industry. Statewide lodging and restaurant revenue is typically less than $200 million a month in January and February, compared to over $500 million in each of the months of July and August, according to industry reports.

By attempting to wake up hibernating consumers, Carnaval Maine recalls frigid festivals Portland held during the 1920s, as well as similar events in other northern climes. The winter carnival in Quebec City, Canada, generates $38 million a year, Shamrock pointed out.

Carnaval Maine may also partially fill a void created earlier this year when Portland’s annual Old Port Festival, which in some years brought over 30,000 people to that neighborhood near the city’s waterfront, was held for the 46th and final time.

But the Old Port Festival was in June. And there’s reason to be cautious about prospects for the prom party.

Admission isn't cheap. The Snow Ball has a ticket price of $100 per person. (A two-day pass to events outside the igloo, however, is $20.)

The experience of other winter festivals offers limited predictions for Portland.

“We welcome Carnaval ME to the world of winter festivals! As thousands of Mainers have enjoyed Carnaval de Quebec thru the decades, we look forward to collaborating with Carnaval ME to drive mutually rewarding promotion and experiences,” said Carnaval de Quebec Commercial Director Marie-Eve Jacob, in the release.

The Canadian carnival, scheduled in 2020 for Feb. 7-16, draws nearly 1 million people annually, and is one of the largest in the world. But Quebec City has a population of over 530,000, eight times that of Portland, and the festival has been running since 1955.

A winter festival from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 in St. Paul, Minn., attracts over 250,000 people each year. The event has an annual economic impact of $2 million to $3 million, according to the St. Paul website.

But results haven’t always been positive. Twice, the festival has attempted to leverage the popularity of the Super Bowl pro football championship, played in 1992 and 2018 in nearby Minneapolis. In 2018, the St. Paul Winter Carnival canceled plans for its ice palace. In 1992, the carnival's organizing group filed for bankruptcy.

The goal of Portland’s event is more modest, to be sure.

But the city’s festival will have at least one thing in common with predecessors: weather. The average temperatures in Portland on Jan. 30 range from a low of 16 degrees to a balmy high of 33 degrees.

Festivities at Carnaval Maine will go on, according to its website, regardless of the conditions. "If it is cold or snowing," the event's website reads, "please dress accordingly."