Winter Fest Freezes

A winter spectacular the two big American firms originally planned for the so-called International Quarter around London’s Olympic Park Nov. 28 to Jan. 4 appears to have been scrapped at about a month’s notice. A press release that would have formally announced and detailed Winter Kingdom Stratford, which was expected Oct. 24, never saw the light of the day.

The London winter spectacular apparently would have featured a massive fair, the Moscow State Circus, a “Magical Ice Rink” and a huge observation wheel shipped in from Hungary.

It was to be a free-entry event but visitors would pay for the individually priced attractions and rides. The project had been on the cards since the Spring, when the London Legacy Development Corporation – which looks after the facilities built for the 2012 Olympic Games – wanted a winter spectacular to rival the annual event put on in Hyde Park and show UK taxpayers that the Olympic area isn’t already falling into disuse.

The whole thing started to unravel at the end of June, when London Mayor Boris Johnson announced that David Goldstone had been appointed as the LLDC’s new chief exec.

At one time AEG and LN had both been vying to run the Stratford site – although AEG later dropped out – and for the last two years LN has staged its Wireless Festival there, but one of Goldstone’s first moves was to make changes in the bidding process. When the LLDC was due to finalise the contract for the winter spectacular, the American companies were both put out to discover it was for just one year, reportedly prompting LN to drop out of the winter fair.

Apart from not giving AEG and LN a chance to spread the startup costs of the winter show, the one-year contract also fueled the rumour that the facility management arm of French company Vinci Construction is in pole position to take over the longer-term running of the former Olympic area. If the LLDC limited the contract to one year to protect the interests of the incoming site management company, then a win for Vinci could leave Live Nation looking for a new home for the summer festivals it stages in London.

It appears AEG, which has held its main London summer shows in Hyde Park since wrestling the contract from LN in 2012, was at first determined to go it alone on the Stratford winter wonderland extravaganza. However, the non-appearance of the AEG press release expected Oct. 24 – the day the tickets for the main attractions were expected to go on sale – suggests the company also had second thoughts.

The LLDC is now left without a marquee event to fill the Stratford site through Christmas and the holiday period. Neither AEG nor LN was making comment at press time.