The chair of the longstanding Art in the Park event has confirmed they've removed a sponsor following community concern.
Allan Kidd says the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918) has removed Chick-fil-A from its list of sponsors after concern over the company's past controversies and have decided to move in a different direction.
Kidd says he informed the local Chick-fil-A franchisee about the decision on Monday.
Chick-fil-A was a sponsor for Art in the Park in 2024 and Kidd says they were vetted at that time. No issues were raised that year and Kidd says the club was impressed with their local community involvement.
Despite success with Chick-fil-A in 2024, Kidd acknowledged concerns tied to Chick-fil-A's history of donations to organizations in the United States with anti-LGBTQ+ ties and says they take the concerns seriously.
He says Art in the Park is run solely by 80 volunteers, and that all of the proceeds raised during the event go back to the community, or around the world such as building water wells or schools in Africa, among other initiatives.
Kidd says they take community feedback seriously.
"We don't want to be perceived as aligning ourselves with somebody that's "toxic" - not my words. So, in order to avoid any bad feelings we were willing to pull the plug on that sponsorship - it's money that we would've used to save lives and help people, but we're going to do okay without it I guess."
He says they were quite willing to take Chick-fil-A's money in order to feed the poor, which is the Rotary's focus.
"We align ourselves with the people we give the money to. I'm happy to take money from just about anybody. I had a guy come through the gate last year that had a swastika tattooed on his face, and I'm not aligned with his values but I was very happy to take his money and use that to take care of people in Africa."
He adds that they were aware of the historical problems attached to Chick-fil-A.
"We believe in redemption... that people can try through action to improve their public image. So we looked at them a couple years ago and knew that there was a negative perception attached to the founder of the franchise, but the local representative, Jordan, was an outstanding citizen."
Kidd says he doesn't know if they'll be able to replace Chick-fil-A as a sponsor with the event so soon.
"It's very difficult to get sponsors when our economy is not as good as it could be, we're definitely hurting for sponsors compared to past years and to lose this one is a shame, but we think that we've done this for the right reason."
This year will be the 47th year the event has been held. The event will run on June 6 and 7.
Art in the Park is held annually at Willistead Park and last year's event saw over 35,000 visitors.