Oro-Medonte is a small community nestled on the northwestern shores of Lake Simcoe, an hour and a half north of Toronto. A Google Image search returns pictures of lush rolling hills, burnt autumn leaves and rustic farmhouses. And one plucky community group wants to keep you, binge-drinking hipsters and Sam Smith from cropping up in those photos.
Save Oro is the work of local citizens concerned about changes that could be coming to their town. Burl’s Creek, a local events ground, is presently being considered for a massive expansion and is set to host at least two large scale music festivals this summer: WayHome and Boots & Hearts.
“The general sentiment is: we don’t want Canada’s next…largest concert venue in our neighbourhood,” says Al Sinclair, a local resident and member of Save Oro.
“We’re a quiet kind of farm residential community. There’s not a whole lot that goes on here and that’s kind of the way we like it.”
Save Oro’s website says their mission is to inform citizens of “the proposed irreversible changes to our quiet rural lifestyle, that are being considered by our council members.”
Burl’s Creek has almost doubled to 700 acres under new owner Stanley Dunford who is a majority shareholder of Republic Live, an events company that produces WayHome and Boots & Hearts. Now an application is before Oro-Medonte city council to approve a temporary use plan that would allow them to host events big enough to put on this summer’s festivals. Essentially, Republic Live has the land but, possibly, not the zoning to host festival attendees.
According to reports from the Orillia Packet, there’s the possibility these applications will be denied. There will be a public meeting held to review the rezoning application, followed by a report and recommendation to city council by township staff, after which the council vote. If the council denies the bid and the Ontario Municipal Board supports them in on appeal, this summer’s events might be in jeopardy.
But Republic Live doesn’t seem concerned.
“WayHome Music and Arts will be held at Burls Creek Event Grounds this summer,” Ryan Howes, VP of Venue Operations for Burl’s Creek said in an email. “We are well down the road with a number of approvals, submissions and planning applications that cover our current site modifications as well as land use,” he writes.
“Currently there is a lot of misinformation within the community regarding number of shows and capacity numbers for each festival.”
Savo Oro held their own public meeting last Thursday, allowing community members to gather and voices their collective concerns. According to Sinclair, roughly 250 attendees packed a local elementary school gymnasium. The group has another meeting planned for March and they only expect their support to continue to grow.
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