East Coast Music Awards returning to Saint John

The East Coast Music Awards are returning to Saint John for the first time in 15 years, and only the second time in the prize's history.

The city has been awarded the five-day music festival, convention and awards show for the year 2017, the East Coast Music Association announced Monday at the Saint John City Market.

The ECMAs will be held April 19 to23, 2017, with 200 bands, 500 performers, and a projected13,000 people attending the shows.

"We were lobbied by the local committee here, and they were merciless in terms of making sure that they wanted it back in Saint John," said Andy MacLean, executive director of the association.

The awards show typically rotates amongfive regions (thefour Atlantic provinces, plus Cape Breton as its own region) each year. In New Brunswick, its also rotates between Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John, which accounts for the long gap since it was last in the Port City.

It's never a sure bet which city will get the awards. Apotential host city must apply and show that an organizationand plan is already in place.

"The way that the city is set up, the infrastructure, with the support, the hotels, the incredible live music venues, beautiful places where we can play, and ways that we can really activate and bring the ECMA's and the whole event to lifein the end it was a pretty easy decision to make," explained MacLean.

Roots showcase a Saint John addition

The Saint John committee promised to put its own spin on the awards ceremony. The last time the city hosted the event, they introduced the Roots Room showcase, now one of the very biggest drawsof ECMA week.

The association estimated that the awards will generate $3.1 million in economic activity for Saint John in 2017.

The 2016 East Coast Music Awards will be held in Sydney, Nova Scotia in April.