By Kim Latimer
Parades attract thousands of spectators to the heart of Centretown, but for many retail merchants it’s hardly business as usual.
Susan Rose, manager and owner of the Herb and Spice Shop located at 375 Bank St., says the problem is that shoppers can’t get to her store when roads are blocked off for parade days.
“I’m not happy. If I were a shopper and the roads were closed I wouldn’t come either, and when there are parades there are virtually no customers in my shop,” says Rose.
She says she doesn’t understand why Ottawa’s major parades are always on Bank Street.
Merchants like Marc Bordeleau, owner of Wringers Laundromat and restaurant in the Glebe, say parades aren’t the problem, the lack of restrictions on how many parades pass by his business every year is.
“We want some fairness to this. We don’t want Bank Street to get hit all of the time with parades because there’s a lot of roads in Ottawa, and it could be distributed throughout the region,” says Bordeleau.
He says Saturday is the most popular business day – and that happens to be the most popular day for parades.
“We lose 40 to 50 per cent of our sales on those Saturdays, so can there not be another day of the week or another time when parades can go by . . . because some merchants make half of their income on Saturdays,” says Bordeleau.
But not all businesses are suffering from parades.
“It’s not too bad because they [parades] are only here every once while and if I had a vote I’d say vote to let them go by because Ottawa needs more events like that,” says Kevin Farrell, manager of 23U-WASH Laundromat at the corner of Bank and Catherine streets.
According to Brousseau, business for restaurants and bars increases on parade days but retail businesses suffer.
That’s why the region is circulating a questionnaire to downtown businesses which could decide the fate of Bank Street parades.
The questionnaire pinpoints the positive and negative impacts parades have on sales, as well as specific dates and times which would be best for businesses to have parades pass by.
The questionnaire’s influence could be huge. The results of the questionnaire could be used to change the special events bylaw for parades.
“We’re hoping to have the report ready in June. After we get the responses back, we’ll summarize them and draft a report,” says Doug Brousseau, deputy commissioner for transportation. Brousseau adds he thinks changes are likely.
As long as the moratorium is in effect it will be months before any parade can pass through Centretown and the Glebe.
Increased restrictions will affect routes, times parades can be held, and costs of traffic control.
For parade organizers like Dave Bostic, president of the Fête Caribe parade in August, the questionnaire may cause difficulties.
“We have to negotiate a new route. I have to get back to them (the police) with a proposal. They’ve given me the streets to work with. It’s just that we aren’t allowed to use any part of the Glebe and it’s a bit troubling,” says Bostic.
Bostic, who is anxious to begin organizing the parade, will have to wait at least three months to find out how Fête Caribe will be affected by any policy changes.
“It’s puzzling because the parade is only there for a brief period so I don’t see what the fuss is all about,” says Bostic. Last year, the Fête Caribe lasted nearly six hours.
Al Moulton, event co-ordinator for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, says he ran into similar problems.
“You don’t want to go where you’re not wanted . . . and this year everything was pretty last minute because of all of the changes,” says Moulton, whose costs were 30 per cent higher this year.
“I think we’ll work it out. Everyone seems to want to co-operate – it’s just a matter of sitting down and discussing it,” says Moulton.