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According to the City of Saskatoon, construction isn’t solely to blame for the cancellation of the Saskatoon Ex parade this year.
At the beginning of June, Susan Kuzma, manager of signature events at Prairieland Park, told 650 CKOM that extensive downtown construction made navigating a parade route untenable.
A statement from the city’s director of construction and design, Matt Jurkiewicz, contests that claim.
Jurkiewicz said there were “recent efforts made to accommodate the parade.”
Organizers planning a summer event like a parade are required to notify the City of Saskatoon by a Jan. 1 deadline, Jurkiewicz explained.
“The City did not receive notice or a parade application from the Ex. This is required so construction and detours can be planned for the summer months,” the statement read.
Jurkiewicz said the city’s administration reached out to the Ex organizers about the parade after seeing it advertised online in April.
Though a late addition seemed unfeasible with downtown construction and other events already slated, a meeting was held between the city and the Ex organizers at the end of May to discuss an alternate route.
According to Jurkiewicz, special event staff proposed a route for a parade on Aug. 4, involving 19th Street, Second Avenue and Avenue C, and offered an alternate option of holding the event on Aug. 3 — a statutory holiday.
The statement noted that Aug. 4 was the desired date as indicated by the Ex.
Jurkiewicz said the city did not hear again from the organizers until learning the parade had been cancelled by the Ex through the news media.
“Like many residents and visitors to Saskatoon in the summer, the City is disappointed to hear through the news media the Ex has decided to cancel its parade,” Jurkiewicz wrote in his statement.
“Of course, we are always willing to work with the Ex to accommodate a parade and would welcome a further conversation should that be the Exhibition’s course of action.”
The Saskatoon Ex runs Aug. 8-13 at Prairieland Park.
