The City of Peterborough is planning to reschedule the Canada Day fireworks display that was cancelled on Wednesday (July 1) due to the weather.
Although the city’s Canada Day parade and post-parade celebrations in Del Crary Park earlier in the day were unaffected, with more than 20 parade entries, over 30 vendors, and live entertainment along with community groups, severe thunderstorms rolled into the area at around 6 p.m.
The thunderstorms were so severe that, just 45 minutes later, Peterborough Musicfest cancelled the Neon Nostalgic concert that was scheduled to take place at Del Crary Park at 8 p.m.
After many questions on social media from residents about whether the city’s fireworks display — set to take place over Little Lake following the concert at around 9:30 p.m. — was still going ahead, the city announced at 7:15 p.m. that the fireworks were cancelled.
The cancellation of both the concert and fireworks display were made despite the fact the thunderstorms had passed by 7 p.m., although they caused several power outages across the city.
“A severe thunderstorm had just swept through Peterborough and the Environment Canada forecast still showed the possibility of thunderstorms in the evening,” said Brendan Wedley, the city’s director of strategic communications and Service Peterborough, in a media release explaining the cancellation decision.
“Based on the conditions at the time, the difficult decision was made to cancel the fireworks display,” Wedley added. “The city appreciates it was disappointing for those who were planning to see the fireworks and is working with the fireworks provider to reschedule for a date later this summer.”
The city will announce the rescheduled fireworks date and event details when they have been finalized.
As for the cancelled concert, Peterborough Musicfest has not announced any plans to reschedule Neon Nostalgic to a later date. The next Musicfest concert, featuring Good Lovelies, is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Saturday night.
Wednesday’s thunderstorms also resulted in the cancellation of evening Canada Day celebrations in other communities, most notably in Ottawa.
