SAY IT ISN’T SO, SANTA
No city bailout for parade
Windsor’s 2020 Christmas and Canada Day parades remain question marks, days after the Downtown Windsor BIA announced it was withdrawing its main sponsorship support going forward.
Parade organizers and some supporters have suggested the city step in to help save the festive and popular downtown events, but Mayor Drew Dilkens doesn’t appear keen on a taxpayer bailout.
“The easiest thing to say is, ‘We lost a sponsor, the city should step in’ — but the city can’t be the banker for every organization,” Dilkens told the Star Wednesday.
Dilkens said the community appreciates and looks forward to the two downtown events hosted by the Windsor Parade Corp. But he said it’s up to that private corporation to find new sponsors to fill in the financial gap left by the DWBIA board’s decision.
As first reported by the Star on Monday, downtown BIA chairman Brian Yeomans said his organization was on a tight budget and “we have to spend our money wisely,” including using membership levies on efforts to attract new retail businesses to the core. The DWBIA had been contributing $20,000 per parade.
The news came as a surprise to Windsor Parade Corp. executive director Dave Grimaldi, who estimated the cost per downtown parade at up to $30,000. He said about $3,500 of that sum is to pay Windsor Police Service parade costs.
But Dilkens said the city was already assisting parade organizers to the tune of about $10,000 per year in waived fees and assistance offered to both parades. He said the police billings charged to organizers don’t cover the full costs of the city police contribution.
“If I were the people running the parade corporation ... I’d be going out to other potential sponsors,” said Dilkens.
Past DWBIA chairman Larry Horwitz similarly hopes the parades can be saved with new sponsorships. He’s now the vice-chairman of the Wyandotte Town Centre BIA, and its board on Tuesday night approved $10,000 in sponsorship funding per parade, with “the route to be determined.” Wyandotte Street East has hosted several of the parades in the past.
“I think everyone knows my position when it comes to parades,” said Horwitz, who chaired the DWBIA when it agreed to be the main parade sponsor.
“Having both a Santa and a Canada Day parade is mandatory for the core of a city — can you imagine how embarrassing it’d be for Windsor to lose them?” he said.
Horwitz said he believes there’s “a creative way” of saving the two parades in the core.
On Monday, Grimaldi said that without the DWBIA funds there would be no parades this year. By Wednesday, however, he said no decisions have been made yet and that the Windsor Parade Corp. board meets next week to decide on the next steps.
“We’re hoping the city of Windsor has a parade,” said Grimaldi.
While cold to suggestions of investing more city taxpayer funds on the parades, Dilkens, who has participated in both parades as mayor, sounded optimistic. “I don’t recall a year in my life where we haven’t had the Santa or Canada Day parade,” said Dilkens, who turns 48 next month.