Chatham-Kent’s first annual International Food Festival (IFF) slated for Aug. 16-18 has been postponed.
In a Facebook message, organizers said rising costs and a lack of sponsorships led to this year’s cancellation.
Part of the recently announced Taste of Chatham-Kent (ToCK) initiative, the food festival was to be held in Chatham’s Tecumseh Park.
Mayor Darrin Canniff, who co-chairs ToCK with Dava Robichaud and Tracy Callaghan, said it’s unfortunate the festival was postponed.
“They (organizers) wanted to make sure it is a success,” the mayor said, explaining the campaign started “fairly late.
“But we’d love to see it happen next year,” he added.
On the IFF Facebook page, officials said they were “extremely saddened” to announce the postponement. Some of the factors behind the move include increased event and infrastructure costs, lack of sponsorships and vendor availability.
According to the post, events in Ontario have seen an increase of 30-40 per cent, while revenues decreased between 40-60 per cent for most events. A range of smaller food vendors had been lined up for C-K, but the timeline conflicted with Toronto’s Canadian National Exhibition with some of the vendors heading there.
However, other ToCK events are moving ahead, with the two-month initiative concluding at the end of September.
