Petrolia Pizzafest organizers are celebrating a resounding success following Saturday’s event in Victoria Park, Petrolia. Six pizza vendors were in the park and served a total of more than 600 pizzas. Line ups were stretching across the park, at times, while attendees waited for a slice from the vendor of their choice, and empty pizza boxes could be seen piling up between deliveries.
More than 7,200 slices were sold at the event, that started at noon and wrapped up at 7:00 p.m.. Proceeds from the event will be presented to the Petrolia Community Fund at the June 27, 2022, Town Council meeting. The donation to the fund, is estimated to be more than $1800.00 this year. The Petrolia Community Fund awards grants to Petrolia organizations that support the town’s goals and initiatives for a safe and healthy community.
Petrolia is not short on pizza restaurants looking to fill hungry bellies, and event organizers were pleased to host six participants for 2022 – Bud’s Family Pizza, Godfathers Pizza, Johnny G’s Premium Pizza, Petrolia Pizza & Subs, Pizza Hut, Petrolia, and Wise Guys Inc.
Three bands, including newcomers The Twang Bstds., and Vinyl Revival and crowd favourite, The Geoff Masse Band rocked Victoria Park all day as part of the free entertainment; residents enjoyed the music from the comfort of their lawn chairs set down in the shade of the giant maples throughout the park. The First Petrolia Scouts sold cold treats, the Petrolia Lions Club tempted visitors with a 50/50 draw, The Rotary Club of Petrolia sold beverage tickets in the beer gardens, Community Services Advisory Committee members and Petrolia and Area Kiwanis Club members sold pizza tickets, and the Lambton Central Petrolia Optimist Club offered cold drinks and a pizza alternative – bar-be-que hot dogs, sausages, and hamburgers.
David Menzies, Director of Facilities and Community Services estimates that, “More than 2,500 people enjoyed the pizza, family fun and ice cream.” The estimated economic impact in Petrolia for an event such as this is around $116,000.00 for the seven-hour event using the TREIM model. Director of Marketing and Communications, Laurissa Ellsworth said “The value of an event like this in downtown Petrolia stretches far beyond selling pizza in the Park, it reaches our downtown businesses, impacts our Farmers’ Market and encourages visitors to stay in town longer.” Petrolia was buzzing with activity all day, and the weather made the return to the Park after a two-year hiatus that much nicer.
The event was generously sponsored by Bluewater Power, Riverside Print & Signs, Bourque Renovations, Courtney Hind- IG Wealth Management, Baysar Business Solutions, MIG Engineering, Rick and Barb Charlebois, BrokerLink, and Holland Cleaning Solutions. The crowd was well cared for by the Support Operations Response Team (SORT).
Events like this don’t happen without a very long list of volunteers; Marketing Associate, Thera Wagner added, “…Petrolia is rich because of the commitment and selflessness of our volunteers. We are so blessed to have so many passionate people in our community who participate and make the community signature events a huge success!”
