More, more, more: Whiteout party to expand for Game 2 of Winnipeg Jets-Minnesota Wild series

More TVs, more washrooms, more vendors, more space and possibly thousands more people.

The inaugural Jets whiteout party of the 2017-18 playoff season on Wednesday night was such a big draw that organizers are going to expand the bash byanother city block in downtown Winnipeg for Game 2 against the Wild.

"Yesterday's party exceeded our expectations,"saidDaynaSpiring, president and CEO of Economic Development Winnipeg. The agency hosted the party in co-ordination with True North Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Winnipeg Jets and the team's home arena, Bell MTS Place.

"We knew that Winnipeggers wanted somewhere to come and celebrate, we knew they were going to come out to be a part of the celebration, we didn't quite know how many would come out."

Diehard fans filled Donald Street between Portage and Graham avenues Wednesday night to watch the Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in Game 1 of the teams' first-round NHL playoffs series.

An estimated 9,000 people attended the party, though there was only capacity for about 5,500 at any one time, she said.

"There were areas of that crowd last night where people were shoulder to shoulder,"Spiringsaid.

"Winnipeg in April this year hasn't been balmy, but Winnipeggers came out in full force."

The city worked with Winnipeg Transit, the Winnipeg Downtown BIZ and Winnipeg police to plan transportation and security for the event, and those stakeholders met Thursday morning to begin planning Friday's party.

Winnipeg Police Service event commander Insp. Nick Paulet said overall, he was proud of how patrons behaved on Wednesday.

Rowdy behaviour was "very minimal actually," Paulet said.

"Considering the scope and size of the event, it would be even below average of what we would see at a large sporting event."

Butjust because police didn't arrest anyone doesn't mean they weren't busysome of their measures are intentionally low-key, he said.

2 new screens, more space

Spiring said the plans for Game 2 include more vendors and the addition of two new big screens.

One will go in an alcohol-free area at MillenniumLibrary Park, where True North vice-president for venues and entertainmentKevin Donnelly says you can bring those lawn chairs there wasn't space to set down on Wednesday night.

"We thought that adding the Millennium Library Park as an alcohol-free zone for families that want a quieter experience, a less mobile experience, that can bring lawn chairsthere's plenty of space there. That's a great idea," he said.

The fourth screenwill be placed on Donald south of Graham, which will be sort of a second nexus for the party, Donnelly said, and there aremultiple places to find refreshments and washrooms.

They hope to fit up to 10,000 people in the licensed areas and thousands more in the alcohol-free area.

Not clear who pays for parties

Because more of Graham Avenue will be affected by the street closure,Winnipeg Transitbuseswill be rerouted off of Graham from Carlton Street to Smith Street. Stops in that stretch that are normally along Graham will be moved to either side of the whiteout party zone.

As for who pays for the parties, that's still up in the air. Spiring says Economic Development Winnipeg iscommitted to hosting them and will sort out who pays for the costs later.

"It's a free event so it doesn't look like it's going to be a money-maker. I mean, sure, there are lots of vendors and those types of thingswe're working through that. But it's not our objective to make money at this," Spiringsaid.

"We really want to do this for Winnipeggers and to make sure that Winnipeg shows well to the world."

Game 2 against the Wild takes place Friday at 6:30 p.m. The whiteout party gets underway at 4:30 p.m.

They're looking at similar events for the upcoming away games, Donnelly said, but there are no firm plans yet.

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