The Town of Kingsville may pull out of the Highland Games, and the Migration Festival could be tweaked.
A report to town councillors recommends it dissolve its Kingsville Highland Games Advisory Committee and hand over operations of the event to someone else, possibly the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary.
It expressed an interest in operating the Highland Games this year, although there has been no final decision.
The past couple of years has been difficult for the Highland Games.
It told over 6,000 tickets for the 2019 event in Lakeside Park, but had to shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was an event in 2022, but fewer people attended, and it accumulated an $18,700 deficit. Reserves from prior years covered most of that, but it still accrued a net loss of $6,140.
Several members of the Highland Games Advisory Committee have also resigned. Former volunteers said they would consider operating the event at other locations without town involvement.
Kingsville committed significant resources towards the Highland Games, about 300 staff hours, and the event is the only one of its kind in the province led by a municipality.
Should another organization pick up the event, it would be responsible for any financial losses, and any request for a grant would be at the sole discretion of council members.
Meanwhile, the annual Migration Festival could be in for some changes too.
A debrief after last year's festival found that town events competed with the Migration Festival, overlapping events confused the public, and attendance to the daytime parade fell.
Its advisory committee wants to rebrand the Migration Festival to a fall festival which would hopefully appeal to a broader audience.
