Wawa's Northern Nationals Drag Race is staying off the track for third year.
A release issued by Wawa's Community Services and Tourism Director Alex Patterson - on behalf of the Wawa Drag Race Committee - says the committee's "made the difficult decision" to cancel this year's event - like 2020 and 2021 - acknowledging it "may be disappointing to some", but citing "several factors, but most importantly the realities of COVID [which] have made planning, funding, and organizing large events extremely difficult".
It further notes the committee's lost several members over the last two years - requiring more volunteers to come forward "to spend the countless hours it takes to organize an event like this" - and points to "a lack of sponsorship due to the economic situation, the uncertainty of the status of the situation in August, and the negative perception of events that specifically target visitors from outside the Algoma Public Health Unit".
Emphasizing the drag races can't happen "without our community's support", the release also calls on community members interested in the event's "continued success" to contact a committee member and ask how you can help, adding the committee "look[s] forward to getting back to racing with everyone in the future".