A late-summer southern Ontario tradition will not happen this year, thanks to COVID-19.
The 2020 Winona Peach Festival is the latest Hamilton-area event to be cancelled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A statement issued by festival organizer Linda Shuker on Thursday says it is “a great sacrifice” for 19 not-for-profit organizations who benefit from the event, but is the only possible decision when “weighed against the risk to public health.”
“We want to be part of the solution, not the problem and we are making our contribution to assist in protecting everyone’s well-being,” Shuker said.
This year’s event was scheduled to run from Aug. 28-30 and would have been the festival’s 53rd installment.
Glanbrook Councillor Brenda Johnson says the decision was made “with heavy hearts,” but she applauds it as “completely appropriate.”
Johnson stresses that the cancellation will create a “huge void,” noting that the affected not-for-profit groups rely on Winona Peach Festival weekend “so they don’t have to reach out to the community or to the City of Hamilton to ask for grants and loans.”
The announcement came on the same day that Canada’s Largest Ribfest, scheduled for the Labour Day weekend in Burlington, announced it has also been cancelled this year.