A section of the north side of McCarthy Road near the Stratford Rotary Complex will be used to park as many as 450 exhibitor vehicles during the 2023 Canadian Dairy XPO April 5 and 6.
While Stratford council approved the use of the north side of McCarthy Road for exhibitor parking during this spring’s Canadian Dairy XPO at the Stratford Rotary Complex , event organizers will need to address persistent safety concerns by bringing forward a different parking plan for future years.
Ahead of this year’s Canadian Dairy XPO on April 5 and 6, president and founder Jordon Underhill spoke to council at Monday’s first meeting of the new year to request approval for the event’s parking plan, which includes angled parking for exhibitors along the north side of McCarthy Road between the fire station and where the road comes to a dead end at Orr Street. Since the event’s popularity means the XPO uses all of the “existing asphalt parking” at the complex, as well as the field west of the facility, Underhill said his event would also “need McCarthy Road as well.”
With this parking prioritized for visiting diary producers from across the country – as many as 16,000 farmers have attended in the past – Underhill said the McCarthy Road parking, which can accommodate as many as 450 vehicles, would be reserved for exhibitors for the two days of the show.
“We’re only (actively) parking in a two-hour window between 7 and 9 am … We utilize shuttles to move people efficiently off the road, we utilize City of Stratford police, (and) we utilize barricades to make sure we’ re barricading off entrances and exits to the retirement (homes) on the road and the fire station. Then, we actually have a security company we’ve hired that specializes in parking that will also assist us with that,” Underhill said.
As part of the plan, McCarthy Road will remain open to both directions of traffic, but the bike lanes along both sides of that stretch of road will not be available.
Underhill actually requested that council not only approve the XPO parking plan for 2023, but also for 2024 and 2025, but both city staff and councilors voiced safety concerns around parking on McCarthy Road.
“I’m really not thrilled with the angled parking along McCarthy just because of the safety concerns,” Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach said. “I know that they’re talking about having people there – security agents or whatever. I just don’t think it’s terribly safe for cars, but also people who are parking. I understand there’s going to be a shuttle, but there are stretches along McCarthy where there is no sidewalk. If they didn’t understand where to get to the shuttle or how to get to it, I think we’re mixing pedestrians on the road with cars, with bikes.
“There’s concerns about the bike lane not being available. We do have a lot more residents in that area. It is a route to the high school, so those bike lanes are used by students. With angled parking and people backing out, it concerns me.”
To avoid potential conflicts between parking vehicles and students walking or biking to school, Coun. Taylor Briscoe suggests event organizers shift the exhibitor parking window an hour earlier, so all vehicles parked and in place by 8 am It’s an idea city staff said would need to be discussed with Underhill and his staff.
Coons. Mark Hunter and Larry McCabe also suggested that downtown Stratford parking lots with shuttles to and from the complex could be used in future years as alternate or overflow parking for exhibitors or attendees while directing visitors to shop and eat at downtown businesses.
“My recommendation for the development of off-site parking would be for the organizer, after the 2023 (Canadian Dairy XPO), to come up with an alternative plan that they could use for an off-site parking location and shuttle the patrons to the Rotary Complex from that parking site,” Stratford facilities manager Mark Hackett said. “That would be due to the safety concerns Coun. Burbach has just mentioned. (So I would suggest) council only approve this request for one year.”
While the majority of council voted in favor of approving the parking plan for 2023, Burbach and Cody Sebben voted against it.
“I do think it’s important to note that the last time this organization came forward, we did mention we would like to see an alternate parking plan, yet they’re coming forward without one,” Burbach said. “I really would like to ensure that next year there really will be an alternate plan and we’re not going to go through this exercise again.”
This year’s XPO marks the in-person return of the event after pandemic-prompted cancellations in 2020 and 2022 and a virtual edition in 2021.