A popular summertime event for boaters on Lake St. Clair won't be going ahead this year after all.
Grassy 2 Rock 2017 events that were planned for Canada Day and Labour Day weekends have been cancelled.
In a statement provided to BlackburnNews.com, the Walpole Island First Nation says its council made the decision during a meeting on Tuesday.
"While we appreciate the intention of the event, there were a lot of concerns from our community members about garbage left by those that attended and our community feels very strongly about environmental protection," the statement reads.
Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope, one of the co-organizers of the events last year, says they needed to get the green light from the band council, because the area where the on-the-water concerts were held is in traditional Walpole Island territory.
"They [Walpole Island Band Council members] raised a number of concerns, the environment, they mentioned the garbage, which I dispute a bit about," says Hope.
However, Walpole Island First Nation says it took a number of days to clean up the party site in previous years.
"We are a community that still derives much of our livelihoods and food from the land and water, and it is of the utmost importance for us to ensure that we can continue to do that," the First Nation says.
Hope says he made a trip in person about a month ago to go before a few of the council members to explain their plans further for the Grassy 2 Rock concerts they had planned for 2017.
Hope says he gave it one last shot earlier this week, but his request was shot down.
"The Tuesday just past I went to band council and asked them to reconsider and they stood fast behind their decision not to grant permission," says Hope, adding both of the events in 2016 did receive approval.
Hundreds of boats and thousands of spectators attended the events last year in the Mitchell's Bay area, and Hope says he wants to hear from them.
"We're asking people if you believe it was a good event, place your comments [on the Facebook page]," says Hope. "If people are just like, 'OK, you know it's not happening,' then why put the effort into trying to look somewhere else or try to do something else that would be similar to or kind of the same event."
You can click here to find the Grassy 2 Rock Facebook page.
Hope also expressed thanks to the organizers and to the people who showed up for both of the events last year.
"What I saw was people of all ages, local band, local talent playing, which was a chance to showcase them on such a great event," says Hope.
At this point, there is no word on whether any similar events will take the place of Grassy 2 Rock in 2017.
"We appreciate the intention of the event and would be happy to work together with our neighbours on collaborative initiatives that achieve shared goals that benefit all of our communities," the First Nation says.
Hope says right now, they are just trying to get the word out that the event was cancelled and collect feedback from people who showed up last year.
