On Monday night, there was one matter on the minds of a few Collingwood residents that wasn’t in the pages of the 2018 report card for the Community Based Strategic Plan (CBSP).
That issue was the continuation of the Collingwood Elvis Festival.
Residents filled Community Rooms B/C at the library to see what progress has been made on the CBSP and to provide input.
“Rumour has it that this is the last year of the Elvis festival,” said one resident. “It brings in a lot of people. What’s happening with that?”
“In truth, sir, I don’t think the word comes up in our strategic plan,” responded Nancy Farrer, director of planning services with the Town of Collingwood, turning the floor over to Dean Collver, director of parks, recreation and culture.
“In the (Parks, Recreation and Culture) Master Plan, which is in draft form right now, it hasn’t been adopted by council. There is a recommendation that has us reviewing the Elvis festival at the 25th year and determining what the path forward looks like,” said Collver. “That’s where it’s at right now. There’s not really a finality to anything.”
To read our story on the PRC draft master plan, click here.
Collver clarified that repositioning the festival could include such suggestions as reinvesting in the festival, discontinuing the Elvis portion or reinventing a new festival, but nothing is set in stone yet. He added that it would come up as a discussion with the new council in the new year.
“This is my opinion, but I think the town would be foolish to cancel the Elvis festival,” said another resident.
A man who identified himself as a local small-business owner offered an opinion on the other side of the coin: that the Elvis festival hurts his business.
“It kills my business,” he said. “I’d like to see the festival maybe turned into a classic music festival where Elvis could still be a part of it, but we’re not pigeon-holed into a box.
“All the people who come to that festival don’t bring any money to this town,” he said, to disagreement from the audience. “How does it help small business when the town allows vendors to come in and take away all the business?”
At this point, Farrer called order to the meeting and back to the topic at hand.
“In truth, Elvis is not the purpose of our meeting tonight,” said Farrer. “But thank you to all of those sharing opinions on that.”
There are five goals the initial CBSP set out: accountable local government, public access to a revitalized waterfront, support for economic growth, healthy lifestyle and culture and the arts.
