By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Grand Rapids’ Van Andel Arena has attracted nearly 10.5 million visitors to downtown in the past decade. That’s impressive.
Perhaps even more impressive is that industry magazines such as Billboard and Pollstar consistently rank it in the top 10 for venues of similar size. And that puts the arena high on promoters’ lists.
“They’ve seen that West Michigan will purchase tickets if the events are good,” says Lynne Ike of SMG, the company that manages the arena. “We’re always looking at new shows and working with them to make sure they’re aware of Grand Rapids. Before the arena, they really weren’t aware.”
While some past events have been big — Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and Kenny Chesney — none have been as huge, literally, as next week’s Walking With Dinosaurs, The Live Experience.
With 10 full-sized dinosaurs, one a Brachiosaurus 36 feet tall and 56 feet long, arenas like the Van Andel are the only place big enough to hold the $20 million extravaganza.
“We had to have a venue large enough without the Brachiosaurus hitting its head on a scoreboard or something,” Ike notes. “Once the dinosaurs are put together, they can’t go back to the loading dock until they’re dismantled, so we had to move the backstage forward and put them behind a curtain.”
By January 1, the arena will have hosted 27 concerts in 2008, compared to only eight concerts for other venues of similar size. It was also the place to be for 46 Griffins/Rampage games, 30 family shows, and 17 other events — 120 in all, drawing 500,000 people.
“People used to have to drive to Detroit and Chicago for these kinds of shows,” Ike says. “Now we bring people in from Traverse City and from other states.”
Be sure to check this week’s G-sync for more information on Walking With Dinosaurs, The Live Experience.
Source: Lynne Ike, SMG; Lynsey Roumell, Wondergem Consulting
Photo by Brian Kelly
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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