The Town of Leamington has decided to cancel town events through July 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Council was unanimous in its decision Tuesday night after a report pointed out provincial rules would make six town-run events impossible.
Those events include: the Canada Celebration, Music at the Marina, the Mill Street Markets, Summer Concert Series at Sea Cliff Park, Sunday Serenades at Rick Atkin Park and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra Concert.
Mayor Hilda McDonald says cancelling the events is the only sensible option.
"We don't have an expectation that the government will have big numbers [of people] allowed in group gatherings. Even if it's 50 that's still not enough for some of those events," she says.
It's also not fair to entertainers and vendors to drag things out, according to McDonald.
"You don't want to draw them into an agreement and then you can't follow through, so it was determined to be wise that we give them that notice," she says.
Just under $89,000 was to be spent on entertainment, marketing and set up for the events.
McDonald says those savings will be used to offset an estimated $145,000 in lost revenue due to the pandemic.
"That money will be spent in other areas to comply with the new way of doing business that will probably be with us for quite a few months," she added.
McDonald says council will consider reinstating some events if the rules change before July 21; but it's very unlikely to happen.