The 2022 Purple Onion Festival scheduled for Saturday in Millennium Park has been cancelled according to Transition Town Peterborough due to ‘ongoing logistic issues with the City of Peterborough’ announced Sunday afternoon.

The Purple Onion Festival marched during the return of the Canada Day Parade in Peterborough through George Street. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The Purple Onion Festival celebrates the security of life essentials such as local food, water, energy, culture and wellness.

Transition Town Peterborough’s Facebook page issued a statement regarding the cancellation:

It is with saddened hearts, Transition Town Peterborough has decided to cancel this year's Purple Onion Festival due to ongoing logistic issues with the City of Peterborough. The last minute demands made by the city have made it impossible to continue this year's festival. We look forward to working with council and staff to eradicate and streamline the process for next year. Further, it is our position that, unrealistic hurdles put forth by the city, along with their lack of co-operation or any attempt to help resolve, rather than hinder the process, are also deterrents for others to attempt to stage similar community events. Community involvement is at the heart of every healthy city.
It also came to our attention that, as much of the infrastructure is left in the Millennium Park overnight, the presence of the homeless in the park at night has created a heightened risk of vandalism and forced a major supplier to rethink and ultimately withdraw from the event due to their concern with working with the City. This situation evolved despite the good intentions of the festival planning team to highlight the homeless issue through the showing of the PATH Tiny Home, and to tie homelessness to the local food security issue identifying both as serious outcomes of the Climate Crisis Emergency that now engulfs us all.
Our apologies to the many volunteers, sponsors and vendors who have shown their support this year and in years past.