Kincardine Council has decided not to run the Queen Street Promenade this summer.
For the past two summers, the promenade closed Queen Street from Friday at 5 p.m. to Sunday at 9 p.m., every weekend from June to September.
A scaled down version of the event was presented to council, which would have seen the promenade run from Saturday at 8 a.m., to Sunday at 4 p.m. in July and August.
Strategic Initiatives Manager, Lorie Fioze, made the presentation to council, highlighting positive responses they received about the promenade through public surveys designed to understand the public’s opinions.
Kincardine community development officer, Cherie Leslie, revealed the results of the business surveys conducted last October. It found that 25 of the 37 businesses that completed the survey were in favour of maintaining the promenade.
It was mentioned during the debate that closing Queen Street could obscure the Scottish Pipe Band, who marches down Queen Street Saturday nights during the summer. The pipe band did not play these past two summers, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
It was also noted that the province has lifted many of the COVID-19 restrictions and capacity limits, for which the promenade was first proposed back in 2020.
Fire chief Brad Lemaich was present, noting he was not included in the discussion about the promenade until Monday night. He said he was not in support of the original proposal for the promenade due to safety concerns, as the promenade was not up to the fire code.
In a recorded vote, councillors Maureen Couture, Laura Haight and Bill Stewart were in favour, while councillors Dorne Fitzsimmons, Dave Cuyler and deputy mayor Randy Roppel were against, and the motion was defeated. Absent were mayor Gerry Glover and councillor Andrea Clarke. Councillor Doug Kennedy had declared a conflict of interest.
