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Councillors hope to resurrect 'See You on the Patio' program

Survey of downtown merchants this week showed 'overwhelming support' of having program two nights a week throughout the summer months

Three city councillors will be looking for support from their city hall colleagues Monday to resurrect the popular 'See You on the Patio’ program this summer.

Councillors Ted Emond, David Campbell, and Ralph Cipolla will introduce a notice of motion at Monday evening's council meeting that calls for the program to once again run from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, from the first weekend in July through to Labour Day.

Initially rolled out amidst stringent public health measures in 2020, the program closed stretches of Mississaga Street to vehicles on Friday and Saturday nights, which brought restaurant patios out to the roadside and encouraged pedestrian traffic throughout the downtown area. It grew in popularity over two summers.

But, at their April 12 meeting, the Downtown Orillia Management Board (DOMB) voted to reduce the program to just three "special event" nights over the course of the summer — a decision that has since sparked outrage from residents and business owners who value the program.

The DOMB previously expressed financial concerns about continuing the program, but DOMB chair Michael Fredson said today he is going to bring forward a reconsideration motion at a special meeting of the board next week.

"Due to the overwhelming public feedback in support of the previous years' See You on the Patio program, I am going to bring forward a reconsideration motion at a special meeting on Wednesday, April 27 with the possibility of financial support from the city," he said in a statement to OrilliaMatters. "Once the result of a reconsideration motion is available, we will see what the next steps would be."

The councillors’ motion calls for the DOMB to manage road closures and related costs, but would see the city foot the bill for up to 50 per cent of costs surrounding staffing, marketing, and other expenses through the city’s municipal accommodation tax, up to a maximum of $10,000.

An accompanying report offers two additional options, the first of which would see the city pay for 100 per cent of the program through its municipal accommodation tax. The final option is to receive the councillors’ report as information, which would see the program reduced to the DOMB’s recommended three nights for the summer.

Two downtown business owners took to the streets earlier this week to gauge merchant interest in continuing the program.

Volunteers joined Refillery District and Knight Vision owner Tyler Knight, along with The Northern Joinery owner David Shaw, who approached a number of downtown businesses to get a yes or no answer on continuing the program.

“We visited very close to 90 businesses that were open and available,” Knight told OrilliaMatters. “At the most, we had under 10 ‘nos’ out of the 90 that we visited. To me, that is an overwhelming support of the street closure.”

“We went to a lot more than 90 businesses, but (we made sure we talked to) the owner of the business, or in cases of the banks, the manager or owner of the building,” Shaw told OrilliaMatters.

Shaw said their approach deliberately excluded any financial requirements from businesses. They simply wanted to gauge interest in the program, he said.

“From our perspective, the funding is secondary,” he said. “We eliminated that completely from the survey. What we wanted to know from people was whether or not they support the program.”

A previous survey done by the DOMB, which garnered responses from 62 of its 222 business members, was used to inform the board’s decision.

It presented three options, which included:

  • Three patio evenings before the Mariposa Folk Festival, Summer Block Party, and Car Show, at no additional cost to businesses, which was supported by 46 per cent of respondents.
  • Ten Friday evenings through the summer, with $8,400 in costs for seven nights divided amongst businesses, which was supported by 19 per cent of respondents.
  • 20 patio evenings through the summer, with three covered by DOMB, and the remaining $20,400 cost divided by businesses, which was supported by 33 per cent of respondents.

Shaw viewed the survey’s financial implications as something that should not have been included in the DOMB survey.

“(Businesses) have all been suffering for the last two years,” he said. “Nobody has had a regular, normal season at any given point.”

“The timing couldn't have been worse to ask people for money.”

However, Shaw added that a number of businesses have expressed interest in helping to fund the program, due to the overall positive impact it has had on the downtown.

“There was businesses prior to the (DOMB) vote that stepped up and offered to cover some funding, and of course, since it's gone out to the public, there have been a number of other people that have stepped up and said that they would be happy to sponsor an evening,” he said.


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Greg McGrath-Goudie

About the Author: Greg McGrath-Goudie

Greg has been with Village Media since 2021, where he has worked as an LJI reporter for CollingwoodToday, and now as a city hall/general assignment reporter for OrilliaMatters
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