Container close-out: Area 506 ties bow on fourth season

Saint John’s popular Area 506 Container Village has put a bow on its 2025 season.

This past weekend marked the end of the fourth year for the uptown village. Area 506 President Ray Gracewood says it was a record year for the village with around 500,000 people walking through the gates over the course of the season.

“I think a lot of people decided to keep their travel dollars and their focus within Canada,” says Gracewood. “So, we had an amazing amount of people from Ontario, from Quebec, and from within the Maritimes.”

The record year was highlighted by dozens of events within the village grounds ranging from the popular Area 506 Music Festival to new endeavours this season like wrestling.

Those events, combined with a record amount of cruise ships visiting Saint John in 2025, are prime reasons behind the half a million people who strolled through the grounds over the past several months. While no vendors were available to speak with CTV News on Sunday, Gracewood says he has heard nothing but positive comments on their seasons.

The record tourism numbers are not exclusive to Area 506. Across New Brunswick many tourism operators reported record summers.

According to the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, visitor spending reached $1.8 billion by the end of August in New Brunswick. Compared to the same time in 2024, it is an increase of seven per cent.

“We like to think that the Area 506 has been a great driver of tourism and a great piece of product here locally,” Gracewood says. “But at the same time, I think with more support from within the province and around the province and more focus on bringing people here, then it all points in the right direction.”

Gracewood believes his venue can play a big part in the province’s plans to raise annual tourism revenues by $1 billion within the next five years.

“It feels as though there’s a lot of community leaders that are stepping up with creative ideas, and they’re seeing the village as a place where they can bring those ideas to life,” he says. “Hopefully the village kind of is just a natural place for them to come together and it’s great to be a part of the community like that.”

The village will open its gates one last time this coming Thursday for the final scheduled cruise ship visit of the season.

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