MosaCanada raked in millions for capital region: report

MosaCanada150 was a great, green success in more ways than one: thepopular horticultural exhibit raked in $28 million forthe Ottawa-Gatineau region and more than$32.5 million in additional spending in the province of Quebec, according to a new report by KPMG.

Part of the Canada 150 lineup of events, the exhibit surpassed its goal of attracting 800,000 visitorsnearly two months before the end of its run.

More than 1.3 million people visited the display at Jacques-Cartier Park between June 30andSept.15, the report said.

A separate report conducted by the research firm SEGMAfound70 per cent of the exhibit's visitors came to the region specifically to see MosaCanada150.

MosaculturesInternationalesdeMontralorganized the event, which featured some 40 different plant sculptures andincludedworks from Indigenous artists and from Canada's provinces and territories.

Winter exhibit

After the popularity of the summer exhibit, Mosacultures will be returning toJacques-Cartier Park this winter with ice and snow sculptures

The exhibit will be renamed Mosaivernales, a play on the French term "hivernales," which refers to winter activities.

Mosaivernaleswill be open to the public from Jan. 27 to March 4, and will reuse some of the structures left over from the summer display.

"We're going to reuse the sculptures like the boats, so we take the metal structure that has already been installed and we build around that, with snow and ice," said Kim Murray,communication manager at MosaCanada 150, in a French-languageinterview with Radio-Canada.

The artists who create the sculptures are coming from Harbin, China, Murray said, and are experts in creating larger-than-life artwork.

Visual effects will be added to the sculptures in the evenings, she added.

"With technology in the nighttime, we're going to have a different feel to the artwork, and it's going to be something very special and unique," she said.

The winter exhibit will run at the same time as Winterlude2018 programming, andone of the festival's most popular attractions theSnowflake Kingdom may haveto be altered slightly to accommodate Mosaivernales.

"Thesetupwill be a little redesigned," Murray said."I don't have those details exactly, butI was told that it would be very easy for both of the activities to coexist."

While entrance to MosaCanada150 was free, Gatineau officials saidthere will be a fee to visit the exhibit over the winter, though the rate hasn't yet been decided on.