No tubing, no tunes: Plug pulled on Cowichan Lake river-floating, music festivals this summer

If you were planning on catching some rays floating down the Cowichan River this summer, or maybe catching a celebrated crooner at the Sunfest Country Music Festival, think again.

The Town of Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island swells in the summer with tourists eager to ride a rented tube down the river or attend one of the two popular music festivals — Sunfest and Laketown Shakedown — thrown in the community every year.

This is exactly what Mayor Rod Peters wants to avoid this year. 

The festivals were cancelled by organizers because of COVID-19 safety measures and recently town council passed a motion to shut down river tubing this season.

"We are of the idea in our small community that we are going to protect ourselves," said Peters in an interview on CBC's All Points West.

Peters said on any given day in July or August there can be up to 400 people coming into town to rent river tubes and that means the parking lot where they pick them up would be too packed for customers to practise safe physical distancing.

"We have to do this in order to stay safe and get through this pandemic," said Peters.

Aaron Frisby, owner of inner tube rental company, The Tube Shack, says he thinks council should have waited a bit longer to see how the pandemic progresses before banning the activity that keeps his business afloat.

"To call it this early, just knowing the impact that it is going to have on all local businesses in Cowichan, we think it is a bit premature," Frisby told All Points West.

He said council's decision makes sense right now, and he will adhere to whatever council wants, but there are ways to operate safely.

"We could really control the flow of it," said Frisby, explaining most of his rentals happen online and he could stagger pickup times to avoid the parking lot crowding Peters is concerned about.

Frisby also has a dozen summer employees whom he says depend on that income to see them through the year. He said if they cannot do that this season, he would like to work with the town to find alternative jobs for them.

But with the town's two festivals cancelled, local campgrounds closed and many local businesses unsure what the foreseeable future holds, it is hard to say what other job prospects there will be in a town with an economy greatly dependent on summer visitors.

The mayor's request for those visitors to stay away does not extend to people with summertime homes in Lake Cowichan, who tend to arrive on the May long weekend, he said. 

"They are part of our summertime community and I have no problem with them," Peters said.

To hear the complete interviews with Rod Peters and Aaron Fribsy on All Points West, tap the link below:

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