The North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre has cancelled June's Maamwi Kindaaswin Pow Wow.
“There are a lot of preparations that go into such an event. And because it’s such a big event, we have to organize dancers, singers, and tents, and that takes months of preparations,” says Kathy Fortin, the friendship centre's executive director.
“We decided it’s best to do it (cancel) now.”
Fortin says the event is important for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as it’s a learning experience for some and a way to reconnect with their roots for others. She says the cancellation affects both the performers and the community.
“A lot of people are disappointed because it’s a yearly event that a lot of people from out of town attend, as well as people from the city. Especially Indigenous people look forward to it each year.”
Fortin says she hopes next year’s festival will make up for the loss of the 2020 powwow.
Mattawa council, meanwhile, is expected to decide Monday on the fate of Voyageur Days, scheduled for July 24-26.
Recreation director Lucie Desrochers says the festival will either move forward as planned or be cancelled this year.
She says performers haven’t cancelled if organizers decide to proceed, but Voyageur Days' attendance is expected to drop.
“Those are all the things that council is weighing in on,” Desrochers says. “Are we going to put it on and have the fear of people not showing up? There are a lot of things to look at.”
If the event is cancelled for 2020, Desrochers says the idea is to simply delay it to 2021 so performers and visitors are still able to attend. If visitors want a refund on their pass, it’s an option.
The lineup for the 23rd-annual edition of the festival includes a country night Friday with tribute bands Mountain Music (Alabama), Fresh Horse (Garth Brooks), and Chicken Friend (Zac Brown Band).
The Rock Where the Rivers Meet lineup Saturday includes Trilogy Classics (Journey, Foreigner and Styx), Gunz N FN Rosez (Guns N Roses), Early Elton (Elton John), Fleetwood Nicks (Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty) and Zed Leppard (Led Zeppelin and Def Leppard).
Roadhouse will kick off the Sunday lineup, followed by Chuck Labelle singing Paul McCartney, Abbamania, and a fireworks display.
“The outcome we're hoping for is if it does get postponed that we'd have the same lineup for next year. All that work has been done to secure these [performers]. So that’s the goal.”
For Gautam Sharma, cancelling Voyageur Days represents more than lost revenue.
Sharma, who owns Valois Restaurant & Motel, as well as Myrt’s Family Restaurant in Mattawa, believes cancellation would be “really terrible for Mattawa and the surrounding towns.
“I'm music lover, so I absolutely love the festival. It brings a lot of new people to town and it makes the area very viable as a tourist attraction.”
Sharma says he anticipated being fully booked over festival weekend. If it's cancelled, he estimates he could lose 10 to 15 per cent of his annual revenue.
Sharma bought the motel in January, closed it in March and plans to reopen it when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
“Well, summers are usually very busy because Mattawa is a tourist town. I think we're going to take a big hit.”
Sharma says the motel had bookings until September, but he has had 40 cancellations.
Russell Becker remains hopeful the Sundridge Sunflower Festival will proceed in August.
But Becker, the festival chairman, has concerns about whether people will want to attend a crowded event.
“I’m a little bit worried about how it might turn out. It's tricky to really say if it's going to be the same.”
Becker says the worst-case scenario would be to delay or cancel the festival at the last minute.
“We’re going to do our best to stop that from happening, we’ll just cancel instead of delaying the event. I would say it’s a 50-50 chance.”
Becker says the festival would lose a lot of cottage traffic if it's delayed.
“We might be able to pull off the festival without all the restrictions and limitations, but we also don’t want to rush it and put out something that doesn’t live up to our standards,” he says.
James VanMeer says the festival has a huge impact on the community.
“There isn't shoulder space, you're touching people everywhere you go,” says VanMeer, singer and guitarist with Kik’n Country. “It's probably one of the biggest sales points for the entire town. There’s over 7,000 people here every summer. That's a lot of people’s business cards get pushed out.”
VanMeer, scheduled to perform at the festival for the seventh time, says it’s a difficult time for artists, and a cancelled festival could mean another blow. The festival, he says, can be a turning point for up-and-coming artists.
Local radio stations often scout musicians at the festivals for new songs to play.
“There's huge exposure there . . . The very first time I did the Sunflower Festival, I didn't have a weekend free for the next three months. I was booked at every bar around town.”
