A popular summer festival has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday night, LaSalle council made the decision to officially cancel the 2020 edition of the Strawberry Festival which was set to get underway June 11.
Councillor Sue Desjarlais says cancelling now ensures the town isn't on the hook for any financial commitments associated with the event.
She says, with restrictions in place until at least May 12, there's too much uncertainty to move forward.
"Unfortunately it's the state of everything right now. It's a state of flux for everybody. We don't know when this is going to end and now that there's another 28 days tacked on there's just no way that we could go forward with it."
Desjarlais says, even if the festival went ahead as planned, most residents would choose not to attend.
"For the most part, people are taking the social distancing very seriously and doing what they can to make sure that we flatten this curve and that might be just too soon for people to be coming out in crowds. Especially families, I think they would tend to be more cautious."
AM800 file photo
She says it's all about "flattening the curve."
"The Town of LaSalle, the residents, the administrative people, council, we're all working really hard together to make sure that we get this under control so that, going forward, we'll be in good shape. Maybe we'll have some sports activities this summer, hopefully things will fall into place."
With the Strawberry Fest a no go, Desjarlais says the town hopes to bring the community together again for it's 'Last Call Before Fall' set for early September — a decision on the cancellation of that event will be made at LaSalle's July 13 council meeting.