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BUTTER TART FESTIVAL PROVIDES MASSIVE ECONOMIC BOOST

POPULAR JUNE 11 EVENT DREW HORDES LOOKING FOR SWEET TREATS AFTER TWO-YEAR COVID HIATUS

ANDREW MENDLER amendler@simcoe.com

Ontario's Best Butter Tart Festival drew a massive crowd to downtown Midland on June 11 and provided a significant boost to the local economy.

"I think it was the best sales day we've ever had," said Roberta Douglas, owner of Royal Tea on King.

Douglas purchased the tea room in September 2020 and toughed her way through the COVID-19 pandemic. Last June, she expanded the business and opened a boutique.

This year's festival was her first and she was blown away by the crowds that flocked to the downtown and kept her stores busy all day long.

"I've never seen Midland like that before. Ever," said Douglas.

King Street was packed full of people from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and businesses along the street benefited from the hoard of butter tart-loving tourists excited to be back out at a large event.

"It was a wild day. Being our first year, I didn't know what to expect," said Douglas. "I didn't stress. I just enjoyed the ride."

She was energized by the massive crowd, and hopes it's a sign of things to come for a small town that relies on tourism.

"Every weekend obviously isn't going to be like the butter tart festival, but

it shows that people are willing to get out, they are shopping and they are looking for experiences," said Douglas.

The Elegant Gourmet, a chocolate shop at 235 King St., was also overrun by

sugar fanatics wanting to get their hands on something sweet. The shop's butter tart ice cream, butter tart fudge and chocolatecovered butter tarts were all big sellers.

"It was a little intimidating, simply because we are so out of practice in dealing with crowds," said Glen Canning, who owns the store with his wife Susan. "It has been a long time since we have seen that many faces."

While the first few hours of the day were a little slower than expected, once it picked up the Cannings and their staff were going nonstop.

"A butter tart festival, and any festival, is fantastic because guilt takes the day off and you can eat what you want," said Canning. "It was a rough day for us just in terms of the amount of work it was, but it was good work. It was needed. (The event) is such a driver for the town."

Karen Mealing, manager of culture and community with the Town of Midland, who organized the festival, was thrilled to see so many people show up.

"When we were planning, we weren't sure if people would be hesitant to come because of the pandemic or if we would have a huge crowd because people were excited to get out and do something," said Mealing, who was happy it was the latter.

"We had a stellar crowd. It was unbelievable."

An estimate on the approximate size of that crowd has yet to be calculated. However, many people believe it was similar to the 60,000 to 65,000 that showed up to the last festival in 2019.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Reporter Andrew Mendler decided to check in with businesses to see how they fared during the return of Ontario's Best Butter Tart Festival — the first large event held in Midland in more than two years.

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2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281509344863498

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