The ‘Grassy 2 Rock’ events planned for Canada Day and Labour Day weekends has been cancelled.
Mayor Randy Hope told the Sydenham Current the on-the-water concerts were called off because the events did not receive Walpole Island Band Council approval.
“Grassy is on Walpole Island traditional land so after the last one I asked if 2017 could move forward,” Hope said.
“I waited and waited and waited and then I went to go to a Band Council meeting and not all the Band Councillors were there, but I did talk about Grassy and the importance of the event, it’s a family event. The following meeting I guess they had made a decision not to grant permission to hold the event. I went last Tuesday back to Band Council when they were all there and asked for them to reconsider their position. Their answer was, they would not reconsider their position. The permission was still no.”
Municipal officials say last year’s events attracted hundreds of boats and thousands of spectators to Mitchell’s Bay.
“If anything, it is disappointing,” Hope said.
“It was one of the best events ever and it met a clientele group that want to have fun on weekends. The exciting part was that there were people of all ages there. That is something you want to see. It is one of those things where it’s time to regroup, rethink and try to look forward.”
Hope said he felt the inaugural event last year went well.
“After your first event you always try to improve things,” he said.
“Simple things like garbage and others that we needed, but I mean I was there that night and the following day picking up garbage. Walking around, there was some garbage, bottles were sunk or whatever. We picked up and cleaned the area up because it is an area that people go swimming all the time. Not just for Grassy but it is used all the time, every weekend.”
Hope said organizers made sure, from a emergency services aspect, that there were no issues.
“There was people of all ages there so it seemed to be a well off event,” he said.
“It caught me by surprise when I went to the Band Council, some of the comments that were made. I did know there were improvements that needed to be made because you never get it right the first time anyways. Even though, they were still holding to their position.”
Environmental concerns were the reasons they were given for the denial, Hope said.
“Protection of the ecosystem, they talked about garbage, they talked about why you have emergency services and police there. If you have an event you always have emergency services there to deal with unforeseen things like heat stroke or other events that may occur. Plus with the police, it just keeps people more in tune. Keeps them civil.”
Hope added: “Mostly it was around the ecosystem. It’s a great fishing hole. It was this, it was that and it was a number of things. At the end of the day I mean I have to respect their opinion in saying no.”
Walpole Island First Nation Chief Dan Miskokomon could not be immediately reached for comment.
Hope said any future plans for the event are unclear moving forward.
“I really haven’t fully sat down and thought of things,” he said, adding that the decision from Walpole Island was learned about on Tuesday of this week.
“As big of an event that it was, and the success it was, and how people enjoyed it… I have to just collect my thoughts, talk to a few other people and see whats what,” Hope said.
“It is something you don’t want to walk away from because of the success. We assumed it was a good event. Maybe some people don’t agree.”
Hope said he’d like to hear from the public about the event.
“I need to hear from the public. If they are saying, forget about it, fine, I won’t waste my time and try to deal with something else. It’s like anything else, you try to do the best for the community. You try to create another venue that makes Chatham-Kent different. That is the whole goal behind it and now I got the final decision on Tuesday so now it’s about collecting thoughts.”
Simply moving the event to another location cannot happen with the snap of your fingers, Hope said.
“You just can’t say ‘well I am am going to move the spot,'” he said.
“There is a lot of things to be considered. Emergency services. You have to work with the Coast Guard, the police. There is more than just saying ‘okay we pick it up and move it from point A to point B’.”
Hope added: “I am not going to get peoples hopes up saying there is going to be one. I just say to people, pay close attention to the Facebook page. Your comments are important to us and we will see what happens. As it stands right now, I have no choice.”
Follow the event’s Facebook page for the latest updates by clicking, here.
– Photo credit: Grassy 2 Rock
So do it at Mitchells bay
I would expect the Leader of a community to be respectful to his neighbour, respect and ACCEPT the decisions of his neighbour with class and dignity and to to be an example for the people in his community to do the same. I have read the comments on the Facebook page and some of them are pretty ignorant to Natives and to Walpole Island. To the people who are responsible for those foul comments and to the event organizers that have allowed these comments to be made on their Facebook page: this is not the way to change the minds of Chief and Council and this is not the way to treat a neighbour, this is not the way to treat people at all.
The event is not cancelled because the Band Council did not approve it, it is cancelled because attendees did not respect the waterways. The way Randy Hope’s comments are worded put all the blame on the Council. Interesting that it was approved last year but not this year. We need to look at the reasons why and not blame the Council for trying to protect our environment.
Don’t leave your garbage in the water, have respect for our environment. Plain and simple. Attendees ruined it for themselves, I’d like to see some headlines talking about that.