City council has given final approval to the return of the popular See You on the Patio program for this summer.
The program will run on Friday evenings from July 1 to Sept. 2 from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., along stretches of Mississaga and Peter Street.
Although a previous motion brought forward by councillors Ralph Cipolla, Ted Emond, and David Campbell suggested that the program run on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer, council incorporated Downtown Orillia Management Board (DOMB) requests from their May 20 report in its decision Monday evening.
DOMB manager Dina Tzirakos said three drop-in sessions were held with downtown merchants, which contributed to the recommendations in their report.
Roughly 95 per cent of restaurants that contacted the DOMB were in favour of the event continuing, the report stated, but Tzirakos said that a one-night-per-week program proved to be the most popular option.
“The most common response we received from our members was that a one night closure would allow them to allocate proper staffing to the event and adjust their hours, and that two nights would be difficult to commit to with the current staffing shortages and their work life balance,” said Tzirakos.
Tzarikos also pointed out that the DOMB will be hosting considerably more events this summer than in the past two years as the city moves out of the pandemic, and that one day per week will be more manageable.
“Two days will be difficult to commit staff to due to the abundance of summer events occurring and the labour shortage issues that we are, too, currently facing,” she said.
“The goal is to create a collaborative program and buy-in for merchants to feel supported and to participate, in order to ensure that our community and our tourists downtown is more than just patios, (as) a full night of participation could truly highlight the diversity of our downtown,” she said.
Council also approved the following with regards to the program:
- That the DOMB encourage merchants to remain open until at least 9 pm for Friday patio evenings this summer
- That the city provide $10,000 to the DOMB for the program’s operating costs, to be sourced from its municipal accomodation tax (MAT)
- That the city match, dollar for dollar, DOMB fundraising initiatives for street animation and entertainment, up to a maximum of $5,000
- That the DOMB, in partnership with the city’s Business Development, Culture, and Tourism Department, provide a post-event financial summary and survey of residents, visitors, and DOMB members regarding the program
“I want to express my personal appreciation and thanks to the DOMB for the time and energy that was taken over the last couple of weeks to reconsider the initial position,” said Coun. Ted Emond. “Hopefully the experiences we have this summer, based on the commitment of the DOMB and its members to support the program, will give us a model for moving forward.”
“We all want this to work, and we all want to support local businesses in our community as a whole, and sometimes doing that takes a bit more time,” said Coun. Mason Ainsworth on the journey to re-instating the program for 2022. “There's a lot of variables involved and there's a lot of work so I definitely appreciate the working folks who came with this.”
The May 20 DOMB report estimates that the program will cost an estimated $22,185. Accounting for potential revenue and assistance from the city, however, the DOMB estimates that it will break even.
