Montreal jazz-fest fans defy weather

Despite the rainy weather that plagued the Montreal International Jazz Festival this year, music fans still turned up in droves for the annual extravaganza, organizers said Monday.

The 30th edition, which closed Sunday evening after 13 days of performances, broke even on its $30 million budget despite the troubled economy, administrators said.

"We didn't count the people, but if we have more sales of tickets, more sales of souvenirs, more sales of food, it means we had more people," said festival president and co-founder Alain Simard.

Though this edition wasn't one of the years when organizers hire an independent firm to tally the attendance, the festival released other figures on Monday, including $5.1 million in ticket sales, a 40 per cent increase in the sale of tourist packages and record sales at souvenir boutiques, CD tents and food and beverage kiosks.

Miserable weather was likely a factor in the drop in beer sales, and while the festival celebrated the unveiling of its new headquarters the Maison du Festival Rio Tinto Alcan continued construction of Montreal's new Quartier des spectacles cut off some outdoor space.

Still, organizers deem 2009 an "unqualified success" after hosting more than 600 concerts: from the masses who turned up at the new Place des Festivals for headliner Stevie Wonder on June 30 to the hoards who gathered for the rocking, fireworks-enhanced closer by Ben Harper and Relentless7 on Sunday. Both were among the festival's hugely popular free shows.

"It's unbelievable," Simard said. "Even though, of the 13 [days], we had nine days of rain, there were still people. Not a single show was cancelled and there were people for all the shows. Montrealers really love the festival."

There was a sad note about the nearlytwo weeks ofraucous celebration, however, with the sudden death of local jazz journalist Len Dobbin last week. The broadcaster, photographer and festival stalwart for 50 years suffered a stroke while attending a concert at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grillon July 8.He was 74.

At the time, the festival dedicated its remaining days to his memory and, on Monday, organizers announced a memorial would be held at the new l'Astral venue on August 9 and an event series celebrating Dobbin's life is slated for February.

The 31st edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival will take place July 1-11, 2010.