CORNER BROOK, N.L. — It was to be a big year and the decision wasn’t taken lightly, but Corner Brook Winter Carnival has been cancelled for 2021.
Dave Elms is a director with the Corner Brook Winter Carnival Inc. and had been selected to chair the 2021 event, the 50th anniversary of the annual winter celebration, a fitting choice as Elms has played the role of carnival mascot Leif the Lucky for the last 28 years.
Elms said the board met a couple of times since the summer to discuss its options. With the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic it was decided to wait until September or early October to see if anything changed with the rules and regulations to be able to hold an event.
On Friday, Elms said the situation remained the same and so the decision was made to cancel the carnival.
“Nothing is looking to change right now and we’re not sure what it’s going to be five or six months from now," he said.
“We’re looking at, I think, a bit of a jaunt down the road until things are back to any kind of normal again.”
Carnival events attract crowds, and restrictions on gatherings mean that can’t happen. The opening night, for instance, has seen more than 3,000 people in Margaret Bowater Park, and current regulations for outdoor events allow for only 100.
“And with an outdoor event like that, how can you regulate people coming into the park? It’s just not possible.”
Elms said the committee also looked at the responsibility it has to the community
“If we were to go ahead and have carnival next year and then we had a big outbreak, then it would fall back on our shoulders and we certainly don’t want to carry that.”
With 2021 being the 50th year, Elms expected people would look at the carnival the same as they did Come Home Year in 2019, and there would be a lot of people wanting to come home from within the province, outside the province and outside the country.
But if the province is still in the situation that requires people to quarantine for two weeks, it wouldn’t be feasible for many to come home.
The committee also wanted to bring back some special people from past carnivals — carnival queens, ambassadors, patrons and committee chairs — but they wouldn’t be able to because of the pandemic.
“Going into Christmas last year I don’t think anybody envisioned that we were going to be looking at making a decision like this about what was going to happen to the next carnival,” Elms said.
No choice
Given the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Jim Parsons said the committee had no choice but to make the decision it did.
Being the 50th anniversary, the committee wanted to do something big, he said.
“And it wouldn’t do it justice to do half measures.”
Parsons has talked with the committee and said the city is there to support it.
“And if there’s an opportunity later in the winter to collaborate on some events to help us get through the long, dark winter, we’ll definitely work on some smaller events,” he said.
“But hold out for a big blowout the next year. The whole point is being able to get out of the house and see your friends and neighbours, and in this environment now it’s difficult to do that safely. It makes a lot of sense to hold off.”
Even though there will be no carnival, Elms said during the regular period the committee will invite people to keep the symbol of the carnival flame burning by keeping their Christmas lights on, decorating their homes and windows, or building snow creations outside.
“To show the carnival spirit is still alive.”
