By Jennifer Stevens
This year even the luck of the Irish can’t save the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
A combination of scarce funds and the Nokia Brier booking Lansdowne Park have caused, to the disappointment of many, the cancellation of this annual event, which usually takes place the weekend before St. Patty’s.
Peter Rock, a member of the Irish Society of Ottawa, and the head organizer of last year’s parade, says his organization didn’t start fundraising early enough to meet the $30,000 budget, but the society plans on getting started on plans for future parades right away.
Rock says organizers did try to get a corporate sponsor for this year’s parade, but were unsuccessful.
He adds that along with financial difficulties, being unable to use Lansdowne Park event was a major setback because a party is usually held there before the parade to raise money and finish off the festivities.
Despite this year’s problems, Irish Society President Rosemary O’Brien says she hopes the parade will be back next year as she expects its absence will rouse support in the future.
She says fans and regular participants in the parade probably won’t let a cancellation happen again.
“These things do have a tendency to be revitalized,” said O’Brien.
She adds that this cancellation may not have happened if orchestrating the parade wasn’t so much “like a full-time job”.
“It does take a considerable amount of organization to get the parade going,” she says.
Some Ottawa businesses are disappointed the parade was canceled this year. Jeff O’Reilly, the manager of D’Arcy Mcgee’s Irish Pub, says his business has participated in the parade in the past, and will miss it this year.
“I really like the event, it’s a fun time. It’s good to show the spirit of the Irish community. It’s unfortunate the parade won’t happen this year,” O’Reilly says.
Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Promenade Business Association, says the restaurants and stores along Bank Street will miss the extra business the parade would have brought to the area.
“The St. Patrick’s Day parade is great. It’s an excellent revenue generator for a lot of our types of businesses. From many different perspectives it’s a loss to the community not to have it this year.”