All events planned for the Alfred Jenkins Field House outdoor site at the 2021 Winter Festival have been cancelled, including King and Queen Trapper events and sled dog races, the festival announced Thursday.
The full list of cancelled events also includes arm wrestling, the trade show, Kidz Zone and bonfire. The Family Day Sliding Part at Little Red River Park has also been cancelled this year.
In a press release, the organizers cited the safety of participants and spectators in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We held off on this decision as long as we could, in the hopes that we could still hold some events,” Outdoor Events Co-Ordinator Tammy McGunigal was quoted as saying.
“However, for the ongoing safety of the participants and spectators, the events simply cannot be done this year. We look forward to resuming all of these events next year and making the outdoor site bigger and better.”
The festival is going ahead with online streamed shows including the Rock Show, Youth Extravaganza, Voices of the North, Fiddle Show, Country North and Gospel Show.
Organizers are also still planning a drive-in fireworks display and a drive-thru fish fry.
Locations and times for the drive-in events are to be determined.
Plans will be released in the next few days.
The youth poster contest is also moving ahead. The entry page can be found in the Thursday edition of the Daily Herald.
Snow sculptures, though, are beginning to pop up around the city and festival buttons are for sale at Canadian Tire and all Co-Op locations in the city.
A limited number of Winter Festival masks are also for sale and the festival is selling 50-50 and raffle tickets to help fund events.
For more information, visit the festival’s Facebook page or website pawinterfestival.com.
The first live-streamed event, the Rock Show Experience, is set for February 6 at 7 p.m.
