A local mother-daughter business is once again gearing up to host a downtown spring festival, but things will look a little different this time around.
Joan Douillard and her daughter Jazmyn Lyons of The Realm of Toys & the Nerd Room have been putting on an Easter festival for the community, which has grown and become a success over the past several years.
However, after a last minute cancellation due to bad weather put a damper on last year’s festivities, in addition to evergrowing participation each year, they have decided to change things up for 2024.
READ MORE: UPDATE: Williams Lake Easter Festival postponed due to bad weather
The organizers announced they are ending their Easter Festival in favour of a new Spring Festival, which will take place on May 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. along Oliver Street and 2nd Ave.
The revamped festival will happen in partnership with the Lakers Car Club, which closes down several streets downtown to host a car ‘Show n Shine.’ The event will also include a food fair, volunteer alley run by the Rotary, vendor market and kid’s play zone
Josh Schellenberg, Lakers Car Club president, says the idea of their annual Spring Roundup and the Spring Festival taking place together had been discussed before, but the timing was just never right.
This year, however, things finally fell into place.
“Realm of Toys approached us about having the Spring Festival the same time as the 28th Annual Spring Roundup this year,” he said. “We thought it was a great idea and we are extremely excited, we feel it’s a great addition to both events for the community.”
While Douillard and Lyons are also excited about the new festival, they know how much the community loved the Easter Festival and are hoping to carry over that same love and support into the Spring Festival.
“For the last few years, the [Easter] festival grew so much larger than we could have hoped, but our unpredictable weather proved to be more than the festival could handle, as evidenced by last year’s very last minute cancellation,” Lyons noted. “We’re replacing it with a static Spring Festival so we can have a better shot at cooperative weather!”
Douillard and Lyons are open to ideas of what the public would like to see and are taking suggestions.
They are also searching for funding to make the event the best it can be, and have put a call out to businesses who are interested in being a sponsor for the festival.
READ MORE: Downtown Easter festival in Williams Lake a big hit