What used to be a days-long event was reduced to a 10-minute parade
. And what used to be the site of the swan festival’s additional programming – where there used to be food trucks and jugglers and performers – this year was a boarded-up construction site: the future home of the new $100-million arts centre at the Stratford Festival, one of North America’s leading repertory theatre companies.
“We’re a little disappointed,” said Rene Laukat, who drove in from Toronto for the event. She and her husband Gary Meier have been coming for the parade for years. In previous years, said Mr. Meier, the parade had taken on a “carnival-like atmosphere.” Ms. Cooper used to help organize the parade. “We used to have clowns, puppeteers, jugglers, party tents … ” she said, before trailing off. At its height, it would draw crowds of 5,000. Attendance at this year’s event appeared to fall far short of that.
Others seemed happy at the smaller, “back-to-the-roots” event, especially given the rapid changes taking place in the community – the growth in tourism and the resulting gentrification.“Three years ago,” said MJ Thomson, one of the organizers, “it was so busy, people could barely move.” Tourists were flocking from all over the region. Cars clogged up the main streets – something that ordinarily only happens during the theatre festival.
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