While Easter Sunday’s surprise snowstorm delayed the start of the 2001 District Festival of the Performing Arts on Monday morning, the association president has not let it dampen his spirits.
“We laughed about it [Sunday], which is better than crying,” said John Jankiewicz. “The snow was certainly not something we had prepared for.”
Due to the storm, all of the performances that were scheduled to take place this morning were rescheduled to sometime later in the week.
“One of our adjudicators from Winnipeg could not make it in this morning,” said Jankiewicz. “As a result, we have had to shuffle things around.
“The competitions that were scheduled for [this morning] will now take place on Thursday or later in the week. We are very hopeful that no one will miss the chance to perform.
“We are really doing the best we can to rearrange everything,” he stressed.
Though this is not the first time Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on the festival, Jankiewicz is optimistic the rest of this year’s edition will continue without a hitch.
“When the snow started falling [Sunday], I started to have visions of 1997,” he admitted. “That year, one of our adjudicators got snowed in and could not make it to the festival. We had to postpone things and reschedule many of the events.
“I was really hoping we would not have to do that again.
“We really have not had to change too many things around,” Jankiewicz. continued. “We did have to postpone the opening ceremony but we have rescheduled it for Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Knox United Church.
“Otherwise everything [else] will run on schedule just as planned.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
