This year’s QCX Parade is a no go.
The event was cancelled by Regina Exhibition Association Limited on Thursday due to several factors relating to COVID-19.
REAL CEO Tim Reid says with the uncertainty around reopening, many of this year’s participants weren’t going to be ready in time.
“Those parade participants that were building floats only had a very short period of time to go from a dream, into a float that could be in a parade,” said Reid. “So, we were finding that our registration, and our feedback on our registrations for the parade were slow, and the comment was we just don’t have enough time to build our parade and get our staff organized.”
He adds while planning the QCX for over a year, the logistics of it were up in the air until July 11th.
Reid says another factor was the protection of a parade’s target demographic, kids and seniors. He adds vaccination rates in the province just aren’t high enough for organizers to be comfortable putting the parade on.
“Traditionally, a lot of the bulk of those that attend a parade are families, young people and seniors, and just given the realities of COVID-19, there was sensitivity on whether or not we’d see a large turnout,” said Reid. “So, we were just sensitive to the fact that everybody wants to have a parade, but a parade without people is just a whole bunch of things driving down the street.”
While the parade usually serves as the official kickoff of the fair, Reid says not having it just alludes to how unique this year’s event is.
“Reality of it is, I think we have a longer fair than ever, we have more entertainment, more artists, more opportunities, but it should be expected that this year’s QCX will be different,” said Reid. “And like we have always done, we’ve responded to the feedback of the community, and unfortunately as much as we wanted to deliver a parade, given the challenges of COVID-19, we’re going to have to wait until 2022 to do that.”
