Centre 200

through. We’re a bit of an older demographic, so country seems to go over well.” The Cape Breton Regional Municipality owns the Centre. CBRM, as it’s known, is a conglomerate of six communities that were forcibly amalgamated by the Province of Nova Scotia in 1995. One of those communities, the city of Sydney, owned and built the facility, and upon amalgamation, the venue became part of the CBRM. Centre 200, was named for the bi-centennial of the founding of Sydney in 1787, and the building was completed in 1987. Today, the Centre is run by a dedicated staff of 11 full-time and 74 part-time employees, and receives an operating subsidy every year from the CBRM. MacDonald explains, “We are part of a group through Events Cape Breton that acts as a venue site. In that capacity, we’ve hosted the Canadian Medical Association; the National Chiefs of Police – that was 800 delegates. We have great trade show space, but not a lot of breakout convention space. Though, when there’s been a trade show component tied to a convention, usually it tracks here. We’ve had food shows, and we have the ability to host rodeos, events of that nature. Over the last ten years, we’ve tried to expand from hockey into other areas. This is the largest space to hold events in Sydney, so if you have a major event you have to come here.” Centre 200 is all about flexibility for accommodating event business and visitors. Notable features include: wheelchair accessibility, expandable seating to 6,500 for concert hall purposes, and meeting rooms with seating capacities of 100 per room. The west concourse area boasts a display and activity area of 3,000 sq. ft. The south concourse has 7,000 sq. ft. to accommodate 650 sitting theatre-style and up to 400 banquet style. The main arena has exhibit space of 17,000 sq. ft. with the possibility of another 3,000 sq. ft. upon removal of telescopic seating. A unique lighting grid and state-of- the-art sound system complements the theatre and ensures uncompromised sound quality for all events. From a catering perspective, the Centre’s fully-equipped modern kitchen can CENTRE 200