Downtown Kelowna business owners were shocked when they arrived at work the morning of Dec. 14 to find a large portion of the area's parking blocked off.
The parking along Bernard Avenue and Lawrence Street was blocked off in preparation for the Parade with a Purpose, but shop owners told the Capital News the parking closure wasn't properly relayed to allow them time to plan ahead.
Dan Mulgrew owns Social 242, Tonics and Yamas Taverna.
"We didn't get any official notice," Mulgrew said.
Five reservations of large tables were cancelled for Saturday evening at Yamas alone due to a lack of parking and the large influx of traffic from the 3 p.m. Kelowna Rockets game, which included the teddy bear toss, as well as the parade. Mulgrew said this left the business out thousands of dollars on the second last Saturday before Christmas.
As well Lawrence Street was blocked in front of Social 242 on Saturday evening, making access to the restaurant problematic.
Humo Izakaya, located at 210 Lawrence, wrote on Instagram that it had more cancellations on Saturday night than it did during the 2023 wildfires after B.C. declared a state of emergency.
"The most we have had since we opened two years ago."
At least two different Kelowna residents told Capital News that they waited more than an hour for a ride share on Saturday to get downtown for 7 p.m., and that they experienced a price surge due to the influx in the number of people requesting rides during the parade. This led to one couple saying they cancelled their plans for the evening to go downtown for dinner.
Hannah Spinelli, owner of Just Peachy on Bernard Avenue, also took to social media to express their frustration.
"This parking parade situation isn香蕉视频直播檛 an isolated issue, it香蕉视频直播檚 not the first and I香蕉视频直播檓 so aware it won香蕉视频直播檛 be the last," the Instagram post read. "I also understand this is a part of the trials and tribulations of owning a business but there has just been something about the last while where it feels wildly disconnected between the businesses and the bigger picture."
Todd Daniels owner of Gallery Streetwear said that Bernard was a "ghost town" all day, that he and other business owners made a joke out of it and that because the city had lined the street with caution tape he decided to lay down and draw a chalk outline of his body as a "death to sales", on what should have been one of his busiest shopping days of the year.
"We are already suffering as local retailers, here downtown on Bernard, in talking to local retailers we are dealing with a lot of challenges, from Canada Post not delivering our online sales to lack of tourism. Plus, Saturdays are the busiest days of the year for me, for most of us down here .... we need weekend shopping to survive," explained Daniels.
While Daniels said he doesn't belong to the Downtown Kelowna Association, he agrees he had no communication on how this event was going to take place or benefit local retailers.
"There was nothing to support us as retailers, we could have adjusted our hours so people could shop after the parade. If we were informed more properly we could have planned better."
However, all of the business owners who spoke to Capital News made it clear the issue wasn't with the parade or the people who came out for the event, but with the lack of communication around the situation.
Mulgrew added that he very much supported the cause behind the parade, the Bridge Youth Recovery House.
The City of Kelowna said residents should have had ample notice of parking closures and traffic delays ahead of parade day as a release was sent to media on Dec. 11. City staff also commented that it had informed the Downtown Kelowna Association on Dec. 5, that it should start to inform businesses of the parade event and the impacts of parking.
Mark Burley, executive director of the DKA, said they notified all member businesses within an hour of the city sending out a release on Dec. 11. Burley added that the DKA sent out a reminder the day before the parade.
"It is noteworthy that downtown Kelowna experienced a loss of only 107 parking stalls on Bernard Avenue and an additional 23 on Abbott Street," Burley wrote in a statement to Black Press. "The total number of parking spots available in the Memorial, Library, and Chapman Parkades is 1,713. Moreover, parking was accessible throughout the day on all other streets in downtown, with the first two hours free of charge."
