Pandemic continues to play havoc with social events
Ottawa tells local groups to use or lose monies received for 2020 Canada Day events
SYDNEY, N.S. — A year after COVID-19 began effecting major changes to the way we live, the coronavirus continues to play havoc with the social events that help tie our communities together.
One of the latest victims of the ongoing uncertainly over the pandemic is New Waterford’s Coal Dust Days Festival. On Friday, the organization behind the popular summertime event announced it was cancelling for the second year in a row.
“It’s thousands of dollars for us to plan and put out this festival and we just can’t afford to make contracts now that we might have to renege on if we get a third wave which we are now hearing rumblings about,” said Joey Lever, a board member of the New Waterford Festival Society.
“We decided we just can’t afford to take that risk, so we decided to save our
money now and come back in 2022 with as close to normal of a festival as we can.”
Lever said the decision to cancel this year's Coal Dust Days was difficult given the popularity of the event with local residents and the many ex-pat Cape Bretoners who often plan their summer holidays to coincide with the festival.
“It's a huge event here – it's maybe the one time of year other than Christmas when people plan their vacations to return home to New Waterford,” he said.
HONOURING WORKERS
A day after that announcement, another event took place in the former coal mining community that typified many social activities of the past year. A New Waterford Kinsmensponsored motorcade, with many of the participating vehicles adorned in red and white and carrying Canada flag-waving passengers, wound its way around area streets in celebration of Canadian heritage, in tribute to frontline health-care workers and in recognition of the community for persevering thus far through the pandemic.
“The New Waterford Kinsmen had secured some money from Heritage Canada for Canada Day 2020 events which didn't happen, so then the government got hold of us and told us that the money had to be used by March 31,” explained Chad Saccary, co-chair of the local service organization.
“They said we could use it for a Heritage Day or a Canada Day celebration or something along those lines, so we came up with the idea of a motorcade which was escorted around the New Waterford area for more than an hour on Saturday.”
BREAKFAST SERVED
Similarly, the Whitney Pier Group Society held a weekend event using Heritage Canada funding it received in 2020 for its annual pancake and sausage breakfast. While last year's event was cancelled and with Ottawa telling it to use the funds or lose them, the group organized a Late Canada Day celebration, highlighted by a take-out only breakfast, that took place Saturday at the Pier legion.
“The stipulation was that if we didn't use last year's money before the end of this month we would lose it,” said society spokesman Alan Nathanson.
“And I have already applied for 2021 Canada Day event funding that the government is making available even though we are still in the middle of the pandemic.” Unfortunately, the Saturday morning breakfast didn't get the traffic that was expected. But the group of volunteers that worked the legion kitchen preparing the food remained jovial and happily posed for some group pictures behind a table-full of bagged breakfasts. The leftovers were not to be wasted and, according to Nathanson, would be going to a local youth club.
Meanwhile, the recent confirmation that the Atlantic bubble will re-open on April 19, contingent on a continue of low COVID-19 case numbers in the region, and the ongoing vaccine roll-out has spurred optimism that life may someday resemble what it looked like pre-pandemic.