Live music, great food and family fun; Summer in the Park and RibFest promise to deliver all of that to North Bay.
Those events were given their noise exemption by-laws by city council earlier this week.
Several city councillors, including Tanya Vrebosch, pointed out these events need to be supported by the community. She says people usually say there is nothing to do in North Bay, but there’s always something to do here. Vrebosch says the problem is residents take too long support something and then the event disappears.
Vrebosch says residents leave North Bay to attend these kinds of events in other markets. She says why not support one in your own backyard and make it successful.
Councillor Jeff Serran says he is also hopeful the community will come out and support these events. He says if people don’t get out and buy wristbands for Summer in the Park it will be hard to sustain the festival.
Serran says city council believes in this event as evidence by their three year commitment of funding. He says not only is it fun for North Bayites, it brings people into the city and puts heads in beds.
He says it’s a great way to boost tourism for North Bay and they are counting on the local citizens to get behind it.
Likewise, he says RibFest at the Voyager Inn is growing every year.
Serran says it was started by a husband and wife duo who wanted to give the residents another event to go to in the summer.
Serran says for the people who claim there is nothing to do in North Bay they should try to plan their own event, and then find a weekend that has nothing going on. He says it’s almost impossible to do that because there is lots going on in the city.
