For the first time in years, the Civic Holiday weekend passed without a festival in North Bay.
Is North Bay simply taking a break from the festival circuit or will a new project emerge to keep the community entertained during the summer months?
Tourism North Bay and a group of community partners launched volunteer-based Bay Days in June with the overhead covered by sponsors and the City of North Bay’s contribution of $10,000. Tourism officials have spoken of spreading events throughout the summer, rather than holding the majority of the attractions on one weekend.
There are funding dollars out there. Celebrate Ontario just announced an additional $2 million for festivals and events in the province, although only $80,000 is earmarked for Northern Ontario. This is on top of the initial $17 million in spending from the Ford government’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, to support more than 270 festivals and events.
Government funding is a “chicken or the egg” type of scenario. Does the funding encourage the festival or does the festival attract the funding? Will a tourism or community group organize a festival without the guarantee of support from some level of government?
Of the $19 million total this year in provincial support, zero dollars have been allocated to North Bay. Of the latest round of funding the breakdown by region is:
- North: $80,103
- West: $545,162
- Central: $716,282
- East: $757,403
Obviously, there are vast population differences between the regions but the North is still under-represented per capita. Perhaps a local festival would provide a good reason to push more funding north on Highway 11.
After the recent Ford cabinet shuffle, Lisa MacLeod, the former Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, has taken on the tourism portfolio. She recently said, “Every dollar invested through Celebrate Ontario results in almost $21 of visitor spending. This year’s program received a strong response and we’re ensuring each budgeted dollar supports as many community festivals and events as possible.”
At the May launch of Celebrate Ontario, then-Minister Michael Tibollo said, “Ontario is open for business and open for jobs. By investing in festivals and events, our government is tapping into the economic potential of the tourism industry…we will continue to invest in programs like Celebrate Ontario that help to maximize the growth and competitiveness of the great festivals and events that take place throughout the province.”
Greater Sudbury has received about $300,000 this year from Celebrate Ontario. Powassan’s upcoming Smoke ‘N’ Spurs Festival got nearly $50,000. West Nipissing was allocated almost $260,000, with $250,000 going to the International Plowing Match and the remainder to the River & Sky Music/Camping Festival.
Festival funding has been unpredictable, at best, in North Bay. As recently as 2017, the now-defunct Summer in the Park received over $50,000 from Celebrate Ontario under the previous Liberal government.
Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, then part of the opposition, made it a point to draw attention to the uneven funding for local projects. After funding for Summer in the Park was denied for the second straight year, in 2016, Fedeli delivered a letter to the Liberal Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport of the day, Michael Coteau, demanding an explanation.
According to the province, “Support from Celebrate Ontario helps festival and event organizers enhance programming, activities and services so that festivals and events can offer new experiences, reach new audiences and support local jobs. Festivals and events help create and support jobs, grow the economy and offer Ontario residents and tourists another reason to explore our wonderful province.”
