Thunder Bay – NEWS – Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries announced today that The Friends of Chippewa Park will be provided with $50,000 towards the marketing of their five day, free to all, Family Festival now scheduled for July 28 to Aug 1, 2022.
The funding is being provided through the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund and is part of a $4 million dollar announcement made by Minister McLeod on Friday.
John D. McKellar, President and Board Chair, Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund joined the Minister and noted that “Since the pandemic has affected the cultural sector dramatically and drastically, the OCAF board has felt strongly it is an important role for the fund to help with resilience and recovery. We are so pleased to be able to support events across Ontario, large and small, urban and rural, that will help Ontarians begin to celebrate arts and culture again, and that provide much needed jobs to artists, makers, producers and those engaged in the sector.”
Lorraine Lortie, President of The Friends of Chippewa Park welcomed today’s announcement. “When we began planning for the festival, we knew we would use it as an opportunity to reconnect people from across the region, into Manitoba and around Lake Superior to Chippewa Park. The Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund was a logical place for us to apply for marketing assistance and we are so pleased that they have agreed to support us. We also appreciate that they have agreed to allow us to use this funding for our postponed festival now being held next year.”
A key segment of the fund will be used to produce a multi-page tabloid that will feature the festival, the park and the community and will be distributed to over 80,000 households within a one-day drive of Thunder Bay.
Other fund raising continues to occur with the Catch the Chippewa Ace now entering its 7th week and the grand prize growing. It can be found at www.chippewapark.ca/catchtheace.
