2005-2006

News Release

REF NO.: 14

SUBJECT: 2005 Potato Festival at Memorial University Botanical Garden cancelled

DATE: September 14, 2005

The director of Memorial University’s Botanical Garden has announced that the 2005 Potato Festival has had to be cancelled. Dr. Wilf Nicholls, the director of the Botanical Garden noted that the popular annual fall event is usually quite a success, a fact that actually led to its cancellation this year. “The popularity of the Potato Festival has resulted in some serious parking and space problems which we will be addressing,” Dr. Nicholls said. “Public safety must be a priority and after some fall and winter work, we will be back with a better-than-ever 2006 Potato Festival.”

This year’s event would have been the garden’s seventh festival in eight years and was due to take place on Saturday, Oct. 8 (Thanksgiving weekend). The Potato Festival, which has always included a Jigg's dinner served by the Community Food Sharing Association, has grown to become a popular fixture and regularly attracted upwards of 1,500 people. Dr. Nicholls was sensitive to the disappointment that this decision will cause, but encouraged people who regularly attended the festival to support the festival’s partners and the Community Food Sharing Association in their fall food drives.

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