This year’s Bala Cranberry Festival is cancelled, but that isn’t stopping it from helping the local community.

The push is on to sell commemorative buttons to help out local community groups.

Festival Office and Event Manager Tania Cowley says button sales on a normal year account for $35,000-$40,000 that’s traditionally put back into helping local groups.

Also, the buttons are a valued collector’s item to people who’ve attended the festival down through the years.

“We really needed to shift gears and focus on financial solvency and making sure that we are in a position to still continue in providing the services of supporting local community groups and individuals and then extending the tourist season and making awareness and we want to make sure we are set up for 2021,” said Cowley.

Cowley says the button effort has an uplifting and positive message too – the message on the buttons is ‘we will be back’.

Cowley says the minimum donation to buy a button is $5 and 2,000 buttons have been ordered for sale.

Sales have been going good so far.

The button supplier is from Port Carling too, which also helps out the local economy.

The buttons are available at the following locations.

Minds Alive and Beaver Tails in Huntsville

Minds Alive and Lilibird in Bracebridge

Minds Alive in Gravenhurst

The Muskoka Lakes Farm and Winery, the Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Birchbark, Oliver’s Coffee, Overboard and Bala Falls Pub in Bala

(Photo via the Bala Cranberry Festival)