It’s a Ladner tradition that dates all the way back to the late 1800s, but it won’t be happening this weekend.
Ladner May Days, which would have turned Memorial Park into a three-day carnival starting Friday, is the first in a string of community festivals that won’t be taking place in Delta this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We didn’t have much of a choice when it came to having to cancel,” says May Days committee chairperson Jennifer Scott of the decision made back in March. “It became pretty obvious that it wasn’t going to happen.”
Scott and the rest of the May Days volunteers would usually be up to their eyeballs in last-minute preparations about now as the May Queen selection party and the arrival of the West Coast Amusements midway would signal the festival weekend is at hand.
A member of the organizing committee for the past two decades, Scott says she’s experiencing an empty feeling as a result of the cancellation, although she says it will be toughest on the kids who look forward to everything May Days has to offer. She says it would be the first year her youngest child would be tall enough to go on the rides, so she’ll have to wait for next year.
Scott says it will also be tough on the Ladner Legion, which uses proceeds from the beer garden to fund its good works in the community.
Despite this year’s cancellation, she’s optimistic that May Days will be back to celebrate its 125th anniversary next spring.
“It’s always been run by volunteers and funded by sponsors, so as long as we’re all healthy and they all come back, I don’t see why May Days won’t return better than ever next year. Hopefully we can have a great party next year.”
Ladner May Days is among many festival cancellations this year in Delta, a list that also includes Tsawwassen Sun Festival, Boundary Bay Airshow, Tour de Delta and many others.
