City’s General Committee Recommends City Council Extend Funding for Festivals Co-Ordinator Position

Brockville – The City of Brockville’s General Committee at their meeting on Tuesday, March 17th approved a recommendation that council fund the $52,000 to extend the Festivals and Events Coordinator position.

The funding would come from city’s festival reserve. City council is expected to put the motion to a final vote next Tuesday.

The city’s festival reserve is made up of surpluses from previous Tall Ships Festival, and had a balance of approximately $143,000 at the end of 2025.

The position of festivals and events co-ordinator was created by city council in 2024 to help organize last year’s Tall Ships Festival and to assist the newly brought back in-house tourism department.

In the staff report, it stated, “In 2024, Council authorized the creation of a part-time Festivals and Events Coordinator position to facilitate the 2025 Tall Ships Festival within the Tourism Division. With this position in place, we were able to shift some of the responsibilities associated with other community festivals and events from a position within the Parks Division which reduced overtime costs and established a single point of contact for festival and event organizers. Previously organizers would need to contact various departments including the Clerk’s Office, Building, Parks, Public Works, Fire and Police to access information, permits and approvals. This has been met with very positive feedback from festival and event organizers.”

The city had hired internally, giving the job to Jennifer Devlin, who worked part-time in Brockville’s tourism office as a marketing officer, project administrator and in industry partner relations. Devlin continued with both roles.

A staff report says the position oversaw a number of other city community events, including River of Lights, the newly acquired Christmas Parade, Canada Day celebrations and the Flannel and Frost event connected to the Miracle on King Street downtown sidewalk sale.

“The 2025 Tall Ships Festival  funded itself, with a “modest surplus” expected.” said Brockville Mayor Matt Wren. “It also benefited from a $50,000 Celebrate Ontario grant, which will now help ensure the city is no further behind by digging into the reserve to extend the co-ordinator position, he added.”

Wren went on to say, “There’s nothing else we can use these funds for. They are designated for festivals and the costs around running and producing festivals and supporting them in this city.”