Winona Peach Festival cancelled due to pandemic
The 2020 Winona Peach Festival is the latest major summer event in Hamilton to be cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a recent statement, peach festival president Linda Shuker confirmed this year’s event, planned for Aug. 28 to 30, won’t be proceeding. The festival’s board of directors and its 19 member organizations — including local sports and service clubs — came to the decision on May 20.
“As other festivals and events have pointed out, we want to be part of the solution, not the problem and we are making our contribution to assist in protecting everyone’s well-being,” Shuker said in an emailed statement. “The cancellation of Winona Peach Festival is a great sacrifice for our 19 not-for-profit organizations, but weighed against the risk to public health, it is the only decision.”
Debbie Bramer, the festival’s social media, sponsorship and grants chair, said that while organizers were working with the City of Hamilton and public health officials to continue the event in some form, time was running out.
This year’s event would have been the festival’s 53rd instalment. It’s the first time the event has been cancelled.
“We were extremely hopeful,” said Bramer. “But as we get closer and closer, it becomes an issue for some of our member organizations, getting volunteers and that type of thing.”
Along with the continued need for physical distancing, other obstacles include reduced capacity for the city’s transit system, which offers shuttle bus service to the festival.
Other Winona Peach Festival events, like the Peach Pageant traditionally held in July and the Grand Peach Ball, are cancelled as well.
Bramer said festival organizers are still planning to move forward with the annual prize draw. The festival’s volunteer board of directors is working with the City of Hamilton to determine how draw tickets will be sold, but the plan is to draw the winning numbers on Aug. 30, the original closing date for the 2020 festival.
Bramer praised the peach festival’s sponsors, who have reached out to offer support for the event’s hopeful return in 2021. But she predicts a major loss of revenue for the festival’s 19 not-for-profit member organizations.
“For a lot of these organizations, this is their major fundraiser for the year. It’s going to be a very difficult and lean year,” Bramer said. “They count on the festival and they give back to the community.”