StratfordToday received the following open letter from the Kinsmen Club of Stratford regarding their history hosting parades in town and how they will no longer be doing so.
Dear citizens of Stratford, mayor, and council
The Kinsmen Club of Stratford were happy to have been able to play a part in having Santa and the Santa Claus parade returned to the downtown streets including Ontario Street where he rightfully belongs. The Kinsmen were extremely disappointed that the Canada Day parade was not.
In a presentation Kinsmen made to council April 11 and in our written submission to council March 30, Kinsmen requested that council return Canada Day, Santa and Remembrance Day parades to their original pre- pandemic routes.
Council and the staff management report left many unanswered questions and never gave a detailed reason for excluding the Canada Day parade from downtown. Forbidding the parade from travelling through Downtown Stratford, removes the tradition and nostalgic sense of the past that is so important to our citizens.
For close to a quarter of a century, prior to COVID, Kinsmen hosted the Canada Day and Santa Claus parades in downtown Stratford. It was our sincere pleasure to serve the citizens and merchants or our community at these special celebrations each year.
As stated in our presentation to council the Canada Day and Santa Claus parades have been travelling or crossing over Ontario, Erie and Huron streets and through the picturesque heritage district in Downtown Stratford for the past thirty plus years.
In the first week of January our Kinsmen President inquired about the parades and received emails on January 12 th from two city staff - The first – “The Saddle Club and Bethel Pentecostal Church are co-hosting the parades this year”, the second - “Thank you for your applications I would like to advise that other local service organizations are hosting both the Canada Day Parade and Parade of Lights this year and therefore, your application to host the same event cannot move forward.”
The 2023 management report goes on to say “event parade applications for Canada Day and Santa’s Parade of Lights have been received and processed by staff, with the continued participation and commitment of the Stratford and District Saddle Club and Bethel Pentecostal Church
to both events. This was reconfirmed by a staff member at the April 11 th meeting.
Kinsmen were extremely disappointed to hear this. Council at the March 30 th meeting was there to discuss the direction given to staff back in May of 2022 and staff had already decided? It begs the question how are Events prioritized and awarded By nepotism? First come first served as noted by city staff. Or do they go back to the traditional holders of the event first?
After much discussion at the Kinsmen meeting in April the decision was made it was time for the Kinsmen Club to move on.
The Stratford Kinsmen will concentrate its efforts on the Father’s Day Car Show, continue to celebrate Canada Day at our family event at SERC on July 1 with entertainment and fireworks and introduce a new family event and car show planned for Labour Day. The club also will be getting Rudolph and his fellow reindeers ready for a new home. The club has decided to pay it forward and donate the float materials as they will no longer be hosting parades.
Once again, thank you citizens of Stratford for a great 30-year run and for supporting our parades. We wish the new organizers much success.
Sincerely,
Bob Malcolmson
Kinsmen Club of Stratford
