Festival of Small Halls attracts tourists

P.E.I.'s Festival of Small Halls, which wrapped up Sunday in Georgetown, was the most successful in the event's six-year history, in part, say organizers, because more tourists are taking in the shows.

While Islanders still make up a big portion of the audience, tourist numbers are growing, says festival manager Debbie Atkinson

"We have people calling us in January and February and this is from Kentucky and Virginia and Florida, from all over the place. So the tourists are coming because of this festival, so it's tremendous."

Jody Hauschild from Virginia extended her three-day trip to 10 days so she could see more performances.

"I can't believe, first of all, that so much music is so accessible and there's such a richness of venues in such a small area."

Bernie Daniel is also impressed by the music. He and his wife are here from Ohio and watched a performance every day during the 14-day festival.

"And, you know, we got to see some scenery. We drove around two sides of P.E.I. while we were here, so we basically killed two goals with one trip."

This year, 41 community halls took part and festival staff say more than half of the shows sold out.