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Wakestock cancelled!!
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| Jayx1 |
My response to the Toronto Star:
It's sad to think that a handful of residents can ruin something for tens of thousands of people. I'm pretty sure that the people buying into Wasaga knew what they were getting into. Wasaga has been known since my grandparents' time as a place where youth go to retreat from the city. How can these people have a right to demand that events catering to youth be banned because it disturbs their peace when the youth were there first? What if they had bought next to a railway? Would the demand all rail traffic to cease so they can watch tv in peace?
Well listen up retirees and city council, this is one young person that you have successfully scared away. I will not be spending my tourist dollars where they are not wanted. Which is fine because now I will be able to spend more time in resorts down south where my tourist money is appreciated. Just don't come crying to me when your taxes go up.
| quote: | Surf's out for Wakestock
Wasaga Beach sinks summer fest
Opponents call it a drunken mess
SAN GREWAL
STAFF REPORTER
WASAGA BEACH—This resort town banned Wakestock last night, blaming the international wakeboarding festival for turning it into a drunken mess.
Council members decided to pull the plug on the four-day August event that attracts more than 40,000 visitors to this town of 14,000 along the shores of Georgian Bay after it produced 739 criminal charges last summer.
"I live right down on the beach — my street is filled with cars with kids sleeping in them on the weekend of Wakestock and it's disgusting," said resident Shawn Allan. "But it's partially the town's fault because they haven't built new hotels, they close the public washrooms down at 9:30 and they don't police the weekends properly."
Supporters had hoped to save the event after an initial 4-3 council vote last week to ban Wakestock, the most popular of five world series stops for this burgeoning sport that combines surfing, water-skiing and skateboarding and pumps an estimated $6 million into the local economy.
But opponents argued successfully the event had brought vandalism and public urination to the town, turned parking lots turned into garbage dumps and transformed streets into makeshift youth shelters.
The event's organizer, Todd Elsley, said he was disappointed.
"We were going to do an off-site venue with shuttle buses, washrooms, all amenities and entertainment and keep people there," the 31-year-old resident of Wasaga Beach said. Elsley said organizers had proposed three alternate locations with film premieres, extreme sports and concerts where large crowds could be contained.
"We've made many proposals to save Wakestock but the town council is just not listening."
Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson defended the vote and denied having heard about Elsley's proposals. "The vote was to defeat Wakestock but we will do everything in our power to replace it," he said. "I want to be on record: This council is in support of tourism."
Local business owners, however, were dismayed at the prospect of a summer without the dollars Wakestock brings. Jason Ruttan, who owns a local wakeboarding school, said Elsley's proposals to clean up the festival should have been given greater consideration.
Last year, the local OPP detachment responded to 390 calls during the event and laid 739 charges.
One resident said that while the area has always been a magnet for young partiers, Wakestock had exploded into all-out debauchery. "The kids who come up for Wakestock from Toronto, Michigan, New York, Ohio, everywhere just don't respect the place," said Tom Brady. "Every year they come up and urinate all over the streets, they tear shingles off of roofs, they turn the Tim Horton's parking lot into a garbage dump and they lay passed out in cars or along the streets."
But Councillor Ron Anderson, who voted to save Wakestock, said he believes it was the best-run festival held at Wasaga Beach. And Allan, 21, said the town is losing one of the area's biggest attractions. "They're trying to turn Wasaga Beach into a retirement town." |
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| Sly_Guy |
WTF no wakestock?
Man, this was always the best party [not electronica based] of the summer! And after years of drawing young crowds not just for this, but all summer long, you'd think they'd be smart enough to try and cater to where most of their tourist dollars are coming from. |
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| Jayx1 |
You'd think so.
But not in Canada!!
You would also think that all these people who have bought cottages there would be aware that the area draws a lot of young people. If you don't want to be around young people, buy elsewhere!! |
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| RobbyG. |
Mayor Cal Peterson is an outright liar when he says that he supports tourism at Wasaga.My friend owns 20 little bungalows that he rents out on 18th street RIGHT on the beach.Well the Town of Wasaga decided that businesses will be reponsible for their OWN recycling so when the truck comes by to pick it up, they drive right by & pick up the recycled garbage from the residence only.The town council ALSO increased the water bills by thousands of dollars to some other businesses like THE DARD in order to try & shut them down.
SO don't belive for a minute that Wasaga wants us there.THey want to return it to a quiet, residence ONLY community. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by RobbyG.
Mayor Cal Peterson is an outright liar when he says that he supports tourism at Wasaga.My friend owns 20 little bungalows that he rents out on 18th street RIGHT on the beach.Well the Town of Wasaga decided that businesses will be reponsible for their OWN recycling so when the truck comes by to pick it up, they drive right by & pick up the recycled garbage from the residence only.The town council ALSO increased the water bills by thousands of dollars to some other businesses like THE DARD in order to try & shut them down.
SO don't belive for a minute that Wasaga wants us there.THey want to return it to a quiet, residence ONLY community. |
RETURN TO?
Um Wasaga has been a party place since our grandparent's time. The problem is these people have grown up and forgot what fun is. I think its time for all young people under 30 to boycott Wasaga Beach and show these ******s some power in numbers. If we didnt have such a nanny provincial government id be calling on them to step in. The problem here is that the people who beenfit (namely businesses) have no voting power with council.
Councils everywhere never favour business because business does not have voting power in municipal affairs. What needs to happen is that there should be a seperate panel of councillors representing businesses as well as residents. Also the city should receive a percentage of all sales tax and income tax generated by business in their community. Do you think that if Wasaga Beach was making 2% of all incomes earned in their city and 1% of all sales that they would be so quick to drive these events out of town?
I think not. |
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| RobbyG. |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
Do you think that if Wasaga Beach was making 2% of all incomes earned in their city and 1% of all sales that they would be so quick to drive these events out of town?
I think not. |
Well my friend knows the bull that goes on in that council & they are VERY short sighted & disfunctional.THat council wants Wasaga Beach to be a retirement community...period |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by RobbyG.
Well my friend knows the bull that goes on in that council & they are VERY short sighted & disfunctional.THat council wants
Wasaga Beach to be a retirement community...period |
Here is proof:
| quote: | Pensioners push out party-goers
Wasaga councillors seek to `rebrand' town
Retirees bringing in money, councillors say
SAN GREWAL
LIFE WRITER
Wasaga Beach—Some residents of this waterfront town, including the mayor, are willing to come right out and say it: They would rather have retired people with money moving in, instead of the young hordes who come there to party every summer as they have for more than five decades.
And that's what the lost battle to save Wakestock boiled down to.
The "rebranding" of Wasaga Beach, on the shores of Georgian Bay, is a hot subject on this cold winter morning. The night before, town council passed a resolution to ban Wakestock, an annual wakeboarding event that last year drew more than 40,000 people and injected $6 million into the local economy.
"I just think Wasaga Beach is at that point where it could be rebranded," Debbie Harris, who has lived in the area for 15 years and works for a resort company that relies on tourism, said yesterday. "It's not just the party spot it used to be."
Wakeboarding is a mix of water skiing, surfing and skateboarding. Along with the elite international competition, one of five in the sport's World Series, there's a bikini contest, outdoor concerts, extreme sports demonstrations and other attractions. A lack of accommodations, policing, washrooms and garbage pickup at last year's event turned Wasaga Beach into what many residents described as a dangerous drunken orgy.
"One hotel owner phoned me at night on the weekend and said, `I'm going to die. You better get the OPP over here,'" said Mayor Cal Patterson, who cast the town council's deciding vote to kill Wakestock in Wasaga Beach.
While the local OPP detachment was kept extremely busy during last year's event, with only half the officers needed to properly police it, according to the commander, public safety was never an issue.
"We've been working for the last 10 years to change the image of Wasaga Beach," Patterson said.
"I spent my teenage years at the beach. We don't necessarily want to change that, but there are a lot of people in Toronto who have sold their $750,000 house and bought a $250,000 house here. So they have $500,000 in the bank. |
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| Jayx1 |
THIS IS WHY I KEEP REPEATING THAT
A) POLITICS AFFECTS EVERYONE WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT
B) IF WE DONT GET TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING SOON OUR RIGHTS WILL CONTINUE TO BE TAKEN AWAY |
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| RobbyG. |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
THIS IS WHY I KEEP REPEATING THAT
A) POLITICS AFFECTS EVERYONE WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT
B) IF WE DONT GET TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING SOON OUR RIGHTS WILL CONTINUE TO BE TAKEN AWAY |
Caps lock stuck ON;) |
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| newr |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
THIS IS WHY I KEEP REPEATING THAT
A) POLITICS AFFECTS EVERYONE WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT
B) IF WE DONT GET TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING SOON OUR RIGHTS WILL CONTINUE TO BE TAKEN AWAY |
Thats it... maybe your status name was right... we need a prime minister... FROM TOTA... an with Tranceaddict we have ways of contacting people nation wide who we share a common interest with... with can build our government over the internet then visit these places later to tweak it |
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| Jem_hadar |
Ye, this sucks donkey balls... im very dismayed at this...
Though, there's talk of it going to Saubo Beach... but to have it left Wasaga blows so bad bc i live in Collingwood, which is only 5-10 minutes away, im always in Wasaga Beach in the summer months... its my 2nd home...
I cant belive i wont be able to drive to Wasaga and experience Wakestock... f*uck! The wet t-shirt contests and party surfing vibe at Wakestock always guarantied topless chicks too... or atleast ones that dont mind temporarily running around w/o a bikini top on for a while... just the general atmosphere was so energetic... this is trully a sad day as far as im concerned :(
sadly Jayx1, i wont be able to subscribe to ur plan to boycott the Beach as i live to close... not going to wasaga in the summer is just outta the question when u live where i live.
god, i cant wait for the summer to come back... i wanna be lying down on the sand at wasaga, maybe reading a good book adn just soaking up the intense heat and sun while lots of hot bikini-clad chicks run and lye around in the vicinity! :) |
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| drgoodvibe |
| basically the residents who live there - those who vote in the mayor and council pressured the council to deny wakestock from happening. Don't blame politics or politicians, blame those who pressured the politicians. Politicians only do what they're told to do by those who have power and clout. |
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