The Vankleek Hill Fair parade will continue on its planned route after some controversy over Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) ability and willingness to provide traffic control support to cross Highway 34 put the procession in jeopardy for the Fair’s 180th edition.
“Everything is all good,” said Mayor Normand Riopel, during a phone interview Monday.
Riopel confirmed later during the August 12 interview that there will be two OPP officers assigned to parade duty this year.
“So I’m very happy that the parade will go ahead,” he said.
The parade’s route remained in question just a week before the event as an OPP policy to no longer assist with traffic control meant they may not be able to safely cross Highway 34. The King’s Highway, which crosses over the parade’s route down County Road 10 (Main Street), is a provincial highway, meaning the Vankleek Hill Agricultural Society did not have the right to block traffic crossing in front of the procession.
The OPP’s policy and a lack of paid-duty resources meant the parade route would not be able to proceed as planned, much to the frustration of councillors at Champlain Township’s committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, August 8.
“I’m not too impressed with the OPP,” said Councillor Emile Duval. ‘‘There are a lot of parades going around every where and they have OPP present, and it seems that every time we ask for something it’s a no.
“I mean, aren’t we paying a few million dollars a year and we can’t even have two [officers] for a parade?”
Other suggestions were made during the meeting, including using Township firefighters as extra security, an idea quickly discounted given the jurisdiction of the fire department in managing traffic.
Questions were also raised about the safety of carrying on with the parade without the help of OPP in conducting traffic control, particularly around the liability of the municipality should there be an accident.
Schedule to start around 6:15 p.m. Thursday, August 15, the parade will leave the Vankleek Hill Community Centre and arrive at the fairgrounds by 6:45 p.m, travelling down Main Street and crossing over the King’s Highway with the police directing traffic.
More information on about the fair can be found the Vankleek Hill Fair website, vankleekhillfair.ca
With files from Gregg Chamberlain.
