The Haliburton Rotary Carnival is on indefinite hiatus, but there is good news for the summer.
Rotary Club of Haliburton President Ursula Devolin says many midway operators went out of business during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the one hired for the carnival, and those that remain are busy with other small town festivals. She says despite best efforts from the club over the past two years, they have not been able to find a new operator.
”It’s been such a tradition in Haliburton. I mean, it was a highlight for me when I was a kid, and for so many families, and then taking my own children to this and booking our summers around it,” says Devolin. “I think most Rotarians feel like I do, which is [that] this is a bit of an end of an era. We tried hard to bring it back, but it doesn’t look like it’s possible.”
Instead, the club will focus on an extended season for Music in the Park, which will now run two extra weeks from June 27 to Aug. 29. The event sees a spread of mostly local musicians play pay-what-you-can concerts at Haliburton’s Head Lake Park on Tuesday evenings, with proceeds supporting the Rotary Club.
“We have found that people love Music in the Park,” says Devolin. “I mean, we get three or four hundred people out a night, people bring their own lawn chairs, they gather and meet their friends, some of them are getting up and dancing. It’s just this super vibrant, engaging activity.”
On Aug. 8, the week the carnival usually happens, Devolin says they’ll expand the event to include some carnival offerings, such as food, activities, and the annual car draw. She adds the starting time is also being bumped up to 6:00 p.m. to accommodate earlier August sunsets.
According to Devolin, last year’s bike share program is also making a return, available from around Victoria Day to September or October. She explains you can borrow a bike for free, but a credit card is needed for the security deposit.
As for whether the carnival will ever return, she says there’s always a chance.
“We’ve had two years where we haven’t been able to find an operator, but you never know,” says Devolin. “Other communities might change their minds and not want to host a carnival, so there might be gaps in their calendars, or there may be new operators.”