With festivals and other major events in pandemic limbo, organizers are preparing — and hoping
Concert, festival and sporting event organizers are busy planning for the summer
Big ticket events are quietly coming together in the background while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to steal the spotlight.
Plans are being made for concerts, festivals and sporting events in Newfoundland and Labrador, but with a catch: what will they actually end up looking like this year?
John Steele, president of the Brigus Production Company, which puts on the Iceberg Alley Concert Series in St. John's, isn't hesitating during COVID-19 down time.
"We're putting offers in on bands, and that's subject to a lot of conditions," Steele told CBC News. The concert series features big-name musicians from across Canada and the United States.
"We have some deals signed and stuff, so we're moving forward. But … we have to see what the regulations are going to be so that it's safe for everybody, and is it going to be feasible for us to do it."
The pandemic has thrown wrenches into plans for most such events over the last year. In 2020 Steele had to cancel his festival. This year, as vaccines continue to roll out — Newfoundland and Labrador plans to have 380,000 people vaccinated with at least one shot by June — things could look better for bigger gatherings. But that remains to be determined.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald and the province are keeping a close eye on coronavirus variants while working through the vaccine rollout. The Department of Health has promised a different approach to gatherings as the province reopens after an outbreak of coronavirus variant B117 in the St. John's metro area forced the entire province to snap shut in early February.
West coast plans
On the island's west coast, organizers of Writers at Woody Point are forging on. The annual writers' and musicians' festival brings together Newfoundland and Labrador artists with artists from outside the province.
The plan right now is to go ahead with an in-person audience at the Woody Point Heritage Theatre during the festival's regularly scheduled third week in August. Last summer the festival went virtual due to public health regulations under the pandemic.
But how many people will be able to attend this year's run, and how many travellers will be able to enter the province, remains to be seen.
"Last year we did a virtual writers' festival but kind of didn't do much else just because we were on the back foot trying to figure out how to adjust things," said Diana Chisholm, the festival's executive director.
Chisolm said it's hard to organize a festival amid the uncertainty of the pandemic but this year "actually feels a little bit better" because of having gone through it last year. She said there will be a festival this year whether there's an audience or not.
Big plans in the Big Land
In Happy Valley-Goose Bay, organizers of the Labrador Cup are hoping to bring back a popular indoor soccer tournament that attracts teams from communities across Labrador, while also creating an opportunity for expats to return home each year to play for their clubs. It also draws hundreds of fans who pack the E.J. Broomfield Arena for nearly the full week.
Last summer the tournament was cancelled for the first time in 37 years due to the pandemic. The event went virtual, offering online skills and drills competitions to keep athletes active and connected.
"It's pretty important. Everybody looks forward to it every year," said tournament co-chair Janine Battcock.
"We get a lot of emails and messages inquiring about what's going to happen, but I think they're all under the understanding that if we can do it, we will."
Battcock said organizers are still about a month away from making any final decisions, and this year's tournament likely won't be run at the same calibre it has been in previous years, given the circumstances.
But Battcock said she remains hopeful there will at least be games played this summer.
"It's definitely going to look a little different. I guess we're just winging it like the rest of the world, just to figure out how safe we are, what regulations we have to go on. If we can possibly do it then we're going to do it," she said.
"If it's not going to be a normal Lab Cup the way that it used to be with a packed arena, very busy, a canteen service and things like that. I think even if the athletes were in the building and able to play soccer that in itself is good enough."
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