We are beyond heartbroken by the news of the new indoor and outdoor capacity restrictions announced by the province of Ontario on Friday, Dec. 17, the result of which means the remaining two nights of Holiday Sparkle must be canceled.

While we firmly believe that health and safety come first, it is hard not to feel crestfallen after the weather canceled two nights of our event and after our dedicated team of volunteers had just finished rebuilding on Friday (due to wind gusts of over 70km/h).

Under the restrictions announced by the province, outdoor social gatherings are limited to 25 people.

We just cannot envision being able to deliver a satisfactory event for our guests under these restrictions.

While we greatly appreciated any donations that we received so far, we have also lost our in-person donation opportunities, which we relied on to support the event and other organizations like the United Way of SD&G and the Raisin Region Conservation Authority. Any donations now would be greatly appreciated to allow us to at least recuperate our costs.

The decorated Christmas domes that are currently in the park will remain in place for the time being, and any reservations that have been made for those domes will still be honoured as the capacity limits that we had in place for those spots already honour the current restrictions.

Needless to say, we understand that this is disappointing news, but so much more so for those volunteers who poured their hearts and souls into making Lamoureux Park sparkle and are now unable to share that love with our community.

As always, your support is greatly appreciated. Feel free to check out the magic we created for a short time this December: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCrDv18isZw

We are grateful to those sponsors who have supported our event including Cornwall Tourism Development Fund, Desjardins, Farm Boy, Fines Home Hardware, The Co. Lab, SDG Tourism, JF Markell Homes, Ontario Power Generation, and so many others.

Sincerely,

The Holiday Sparkle Team