Welland's Feast Street has been cancelled for 2019.

Downtown Welland BIA chair Kelly Jones says the decision was made by the previous board and echoed by current members.

He says going into the second year of the event in 2018, the board knew there would be staffing issues.

"We ended up with a large event to pull off for one staff member and a volunteer board."

And with that member tied up with the event for at least a month before it took place, it pulled them away from their regular duties in helping the 300 businesses in the downtown. It also tied up a student intern working with the BIA.

Jones says increased fees and fire safety inspections were adding to the cost of Feast Street.

"Someone coming from Toronto, already inspected there, would have to be inspected here as well," he says, adding some of the inspections were taking place the morning of the event.

Jones says he understands fire safety is important but says it made things more complex and more expensive for those out-of-town vendors, even the big name ones that draw in visitors.

"It wasn't worth their time if they had to do that every time they came here."

Feast Street also did not want to increase prices due to increased fees for vendors.

"The pricing for the old (Niagara) food fest ended up being pretty high and people were turned off by that."

Jones says with slim profit margins for restaurants and food vendors it was hard to find the balancing act between fees and food prices that still made it attractive for everyone to participate.

"We couldn't achieve it."

And while some businesses benefited from the event, many were not seeing any impact and felt they were losing with street closures and access to their businesses blocked, he says.

Jones says the Welland Downtown Board of Management is investigating ideas to rejuvenate the Feast Street Niagara concept to be more inclusive of its membership and non-food businesses to promote and market the downtown. It will look to partnership opportunities with others, such as North Welland BIA, Niagara College or private groups or organizations to make a go of the event.

Lucas Spinosa, who chaired the event for its first two years, says the news of the cancellation came as a surprise.

"It was a bit of a shock . it's really unfortunate, I really wish they could have pulled it off," the business owner and Ward 3 councillor says.

He says the event was well supported in its first year and credits the BIA for getting on board with it and making it a success. There were more than 30 food vendors and 5,000 people who attended.

Last year saw somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15,000 people attend. That success led to challenges, including increased security costs with more police, more emergency medical services personnel and higher insurance costs.

"It became very expensive," Spinosa says.

Nathaniel.Johnson@niagaradailies.com

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