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Rotary Ribfest cancellation will have trickle-down effect on local charities

May 1, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

“It was very painful for us to cancel Ribfest, but it was the responsible thing to do,” said Rotary Club of Orangeville president, Richard Delongte, of the local Club’s decision to pull the plug on the popular annual mid-summer event. “Because of the current situation, we weren’t sure if it was okay to have people together to mingle again by July.”

With no real timeframe as to when things may get back to normal, the Rotary Club had to err on the side of caution rather than try to go ahead with a festival that would place people in close contact.

That, along with the fact that so far there is no real estimate of when the ban on gatherings will be lifted meant that organizers could not plan ahead.

As the Rotary Club’s largest fundraising event, cancellation of Ribfest will leave a mark on next year’s budget for planned projects.

“It’ going to hurt next year,” Mr. Delongte explained. “This year we’ve given away over $100,000 to local projects – $40,000 to the hospital alone. The money we received from last year’s Ribfest we’ve been spending through the year on various charities and programs. We do have some international and national projects but the bulk of it is local. We’re trying to think of other ways we can come up with some fundraisers, but we don’t know when social distancing and all that is going to end.”

Because of current social distancing precautions, the Club is not holding regular meetings. They are, however, still holding meetings using social media platforms and video.

“We’ve given away most of the money we had in our coffers from last year,” Mr. Delonge said. “Next year is going to be difficult. I’m afraid there is going to be a trickle-down effect on local charities.”

The Rotary Club assists many local organizations through their fundraising activities as well as helping with community improvement projects.

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