Source: Flickr
An Owen Sound committee is recommending the city cancel or alter several summer events again this year, due to anticipated Covid regulations.
The city’s Director of Community Development and Marketing Brent Fisher detailed a report at a recent Community Services Committee meeting outlining staff planning for 2021 summer events in Owen Sound.
The committee approved a recommendation to run several 2021 summer events as detailed in the report, while cancelling Harbourfest and preparing for Canada Day festivities to shift primarily to a virtual event like last year.
Fisher told committee members the recommendations in the report are based on an assumption similar events and public gatherings restrictions will be in place in the summer of 2021 as they were in 2020.
The city is planning to proceed with Music at the Market, Outdoor Movie Nights and TD Harbour Nights.
A report by the city’s events assistance Heather Gillis says Music at the Market concerts are proposed for Thursday and Friday afternoons in July and August from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Farmers’ Market square near the Sydenham River.
The city received a $150,000 grant from the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario last year, with the lunchtime concert series being one of the initiatives it was applied too.
“These concerts were incredibly well-received, reaching the 100-person limit for almost every date,” the staff report explains.
TD Harbour Nights concerts will take place Sunday evenings from June 20 to August 15 at the Owen Sound Visitor Centre on 1st Avenue West, near the westside harbour.
The plan for Outdoor Movie Nights is to try and shift back to a more traditional format that adheres to gathering restrictions, while moving to the Farmers’ Market Square. Last year, council approved a plan for drive-in movie nights outside the Bayshore Community Centre due to uncertainty with Covid regulations. The staff report notes August 12, 19 and 26 as the dates for Outdoor Movie Nights in 2021.
As for events on the chopping block again due to Covid regulations: the Community Services Committee recommends Harbourfest be called off due to anticipated gathering limits prohibiting events of its size.
The city is preparing for Canada Day festivities to not include a large event at Kelso Beach Park.
“It is unlikely that gathering limits will increase to allow a Canada Day event like Owen Sound residents have grown to know and love, with thousands of people gathering at Kelso Beach for entertainment, activities and food vendors,” Gillis’ report says.
The report explains the city is working on a virtual Canada Day celebration in 2021 that would include several acts such as musicians and children’s entertainers performing in a live online stream.
“The day will be capped off with a firework show over the Harbour,” Gillis’ report explains. “Fireworks will be launched from the pier beside the grain elevators, allowing for many vantage points along the Harbour wall, as well as in the water from boats.”
The city plans to release a list of locations to view the Canada Day fireworks from, similar to Owen Sound Celebrates — the event held in December 2020 that included fireworks to mark Owen Sound’s 100th anniversary of incorporation as a city.
Council will vote to formally approve the committee recommendation at its next meeting in May.