Brockville, you've earned your shot of rum
Whether or not Day Three of the Tall Ships Festival is a bust because of this weather (and it’s barely half over as a write this) is irrelevant. Friday and Saturday were exactly what organizers of this new signature event were hoping for and, perhaps more importantly, an apparent financial success.
The thought that crossed my mind during the Parade of Sails Friday night and pretty much all day Saturday (give or take a few episodes of parking frustration) was this: as a reporter covering a city struggling to express its identity in a major festival, even as it struggled to revive Riverfest, then resigned itself to burying it, it’s nice to see something finally succeed.
Yes, gridlock was a major problem, one organizers will have to work out before the next Tall Ships Festival that can attract this many ships. (Apparently these Great Lakes rendezvous happen in intervals, some years apart, and in intermittent years we’ll see fewer ships, but I’ll have more on that in the days to come.)
And of course, as we’re seeing today, it’s weather-dependent. But then, so is everything that happens outdoors.
It also remains an open question at the moment just how much, if at all, the tall ships bolstered this weekend’s two other festivals. They will have to work on that.
And finally, there will be those who, as evidenced by the comments below our coverage, will gripe and groan and (my favourite word to describe this) whinge about anything that disrupts their enjoyment of the grass growing over the dead silence of a remembered, likely nonexistent glorious past.
However, from the rest of us, the majority: Brockville, you’ve earned your shot of rum.
These majestic ships have inspired those willing to be inspired, and reminded us of just how exciting it can be to turn our River identity into something that draws in others.
There will be fewer ships in the immediate future. But that’s no reason not to bring in ships, as many as we can.
UPDATE: Clearly, judging by the crowds, Day Three was not a bust. Check the link above for more.