Councillor wants Rose Festival to reconsider Niagara St. parade route

Welland Rose Festival’s move to the north end of the city with its 2018 Grande Parade route isn’t sitting too grand with Jim Larouche.

Larouche, a Ward 6 councillor, brought forward a notice of motion at Tuesday’s council meeting asking that the parade route be reconsidered based on information provided at a permissive grant presentation heard last year.

At that meeting, Rose Festival first vice-president Grant Grice said while no route had been determined, the group was looking at starting at Welland Arena, heading up King Street to East Main Street, across Main Street Bridge and up Prince Charles Drive, down Prince Charles Drive to First Avenue and ending at Chippawa Park.

Rose Festival president Al Bunyan said the 2018 parade route, finalized last week, will instead see it run south on Niagara Street to Thorold Road from Quaker Road.

Bunyan said permissions and road closures are in place and he doesn’t see the route — approved by municipal staff and regional agencies — changing.

“The original presentation proposed different routes … those routes were determined to be unsuitable and unworkable,” said Bunyan, adding the Rose Festival worked with the city’s special event application review team (SEART) on the route.

He said the festival proposed the Niagara Street route — it will have parade participants gather at the Quaker Road ball park — and it was accepted by SEART.

“I’ve informed all of the businesses on Niagara Street and have been very busy handing out notices.”

Bunyan said the north end of Welland is heavily populated and it’s within walking distance of many area neighbourhoods.

“We’re trying to make the parade more accessible and enjoyable for a larger group in the community,” he said.

Larouche said he’s not trying to make the parade route a downtown versus northend issue.

“The parade is probably the most important event to the community. This is the third time in four years the route has changed. I’m not opposed to change, but the traditional route has a lot of shelter and it goes past Merritt Park and the museum,” said Larouche.

He said church congregations could watch from the front yards of their churches and residents could walk to the area.

Bunyan said he wasn’t in attendance at Tuesday’s council meeting, but was made aware of Larouche’s motion.

That motion will come up at the next council meeting on Tuesday, April 3.