Canada Day Parade cancelled by city
Staff planning morning event for families on July 1
The City of Peterborough plans to cancel the Canada Day Parade for good this year, after five years of decline in the number of participating floats.
In 2023, the parade had 25 floats and lasted just 20 minutes, states a new city staff report that city councillors will review at a meeting on Monday.
It’s not enough to make it a “sustainable” event, states the report, given the cost and work it takes to close streets.
Instead, city staff is planning a mid-morning event for families on July 1 at Millennium Park that will include face-painting, music and performances.
Next will be an afternoon music show on the stage at Del Crary Park, followed by the scheduled Peterborough Musicfest concert and fireworks over Little Lake.
City council isn’t required to approve any of this, staff has made the call and is informing council of its plans.
Here’s how much the Canada Day parade participation has dwindled, over the last five years, according to the report:
■ 2019: 56 floats registered, but only 16 showed up in the extreme heat.
■ 2020 and 2021: Parades were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
■ 2022: 21 floats, and the parade lasted 16 minutes.
■ 2023: 25 floats, and the parade lasted 20 minutes.
Compare that to the 2023 Santa Claus Parade, which featured more than 60 floats.
Meanwhile, the new Canada Day festivities — without the parade — are expected to include fireworks launched from the T-wharf.
In a separate report that councillors will review at Monday’s meeting, city staff recommends disposal of the worn-out platform in Little Lake from which fireworks have been launched for decades.
The platform has broken free of its moorings several times over the years.
The last time it happened was on Jan. 18, 2023, when a neighbour
reported it adrift in Little Lake. City workers and a contractor had to break a channel through the ice on the lake to allow a boat to go retrieve it.
The platform was then docked at the boat ramp on Mark Street while city staff considered what to do next.
The platform did not collide with the Centennial Fountain when it came unmoored, the staff report states, so there was no damage to the fountain.
But it did cost about $1,400 to retrieve the platform, and city staff estimates that maintaining it would incur further costs, including:
■ $14,680 to repair and reinstall so it never comes unmoored again.
■ $2,000 annually to insure it. Instead, city staff recommends tossing away the platform and using the T-wharf to launch fireworks, as the city did on Canada Day in 2023.