Reimagining Stratford: the theatre festival city is ready to put on a show — with new initiatives, attractions all over town

On the eve of the Stratford Festival’s biggest season in four years, its actors, directors, designers and technicians are waiting in the wings, getting ready to put on their shows.

But there’s as much drama and anticipation in the businesses surrounding the festival. From restaurant owners and innkeepers to merchants in the festival’s downtown area, everyone is looking forward to seeing big upticks in foot traffic — and receipts.

“The hospitality and tourism sector has been through a lot,” said Larry McCabe, owner and operator of popular Pazzo Pizzeria and its upstairs bistro, Cafe Bouffon, which opened during the pandemic.

“We were shut down four times,” said McCabe, who opened Pazzo in 1998. “We’re a completely different business now than we were before the pandemic.”

Like many in the hospitality business, McCabe expanded Pazzo’s takeout and delivery options during the early days of COVID-19, and began using services like Skip the Dishes, changes that have stuck.

He also took advantage of the pandemic pause to do some renovations, upgrading lighting for walk-ins, making the building more energy efficient and trying to cut down on waste.

This latter initiative included replacing 400 cases of bottled water a week with a filtration system, with 25 per cent of the proceeds from the water going toward a filtered water system at the Rotary Club of Stratford Charitable Foundation.

It’s changes like this that McCabe hopes attracts a younger, more environmentally aware demographic to work at his spots. This is important, because staffing issues remain one of the biggest challenges for those in the hospitality industry.

“We kept most of our key people on right through the pandemic,” he explained, saying that if there was no need for front-of-house work the employees shifted to doing other things, like redecorating. And if business at one of his eateries was down, he could shift staff to work at the busier place.

“The unfortunate thing is that the pandemic really impacted women with young children the most severely, which was a lot of our staff. Many people left, in some cases left the province, because they just couldn’t manage. I’m hoping with things like $10-a-day daycare and the industry bouncing back, some of those people will return.”

One of the most exciting areas in Stratford’s downtown core is the intersection of Ontario and Huron streets. It’s the site of the historic Perth County Inn and its complementary street level businesses, El Cactus Taco Shop and the Cuban-themed Relic Lobby Bar, which specializes in handcrafted cocktails. Both opened during the pandemic. (There’s also a Japanese takeout place, Hungry Ninja, in the back.)

You can thank Bruce Whitaker for these two diverse spots. After moving to Stratford 12 years ago, he bought and restored the Edison Inn (where Thomas Edison lived when he was 16) in 2016 and did the same thing with the Perth County Inn two years later. The newer inn houses seven rooms, as well as six long-term apartments.

He leased the street level spaces to Alondra Galvez, a Mexican-born alumna of the Stratford Chefs School, and Ulises Sanchez, a Cuban-born mixologist.

“I love old city buildings, but I also like to see things that are hip, young and fresh,” said Whitaker.

Both places have attracted a younger crowd, something Whitaker realizes the city desperately needs to encourage if it’s going to thrive.

“The other day I was walking by, carrying in some lumber doing some renovations, and I looked at the people in the window of the Relic and didn’t recognize anyone,” he said. “They were young and lively and seemed to be having a great time. Ulises is expanding and opening a jazz cafe later this year.”

If you haven’t been to Stratford since 2019 — the festival was closed in 2020 and offered limited seasons in 2021 and 2022 — get ready for some welcome additions.

Much like the CaféTO program, the Stratford Al Fresco Dining program has expanded outdoor seating areas for many cafes and restaurants, allowing open-air dining and drinking. But it has also opened up several areas in the city, including some parkland, where you can enjoy food and alcohol — as long as you provide receipts from participating Stratford restaurants.

“I tip my hat to Stratford City Council for moving on that quickly and creating a new bylaw,” said Zac Gribble, the executive director at Destination Stratford, who helped launch the program.

Gribble also used the pandemic to address the issue of the lack of accessible, winterized public washrooms, something Torontonians can desperately relate to.

“We took a small, outdated, seasonal public washroom and completely reimagined it with a fully accessible, gender-neutral washroom facility,” said Gribble about the project, called the Boathouse.

From initial discussion with community services to the public opening on March 24, the entire timeline took just under two years. The washrooms will be open year-round from 8:30 a.m. until 9 p.m.

One thing the pandemic taught Stratford businesses is that in order to be sustainable the town had to attract visitors all year long.

“The joke among a lot of operators here is that you work all the time in the summer only to lose it all in the winter,” said Pazzo’s McCabe.

To encourage off-season activity, Gribble launched the Lights On Stratford Festival in December 2020.

“The Stratford Festival was forced to shutter because of the pandemic, but we realized that some of the world’s best lighting designers, props builders and creatives were living right here in the community, and we could do something with that,” he said. “It led to the idea of an outdoor light festival using public spaces across the city. It began as a pandemic recovery initiative, but it’s grown into a cultural festival in its own right.”

This year’s Lights On Festival was so well attended that some of the city’s restaurants and retailers, catering to bundled up festivalgoers, posted their best January sales ever.

One demographic missing from the Stratford Festival’s scaled back seasons in 2021 and 2022 was the American tourist, someone who would traditionally visit, see a show or two and stay overnight. Traditionally, Americans made up a third of the visitors. Now that the border has opened up, people are hoping that improves.

On the other hand, the city experienced a big boom during the pandemic, as many people from high-density areas moved to smaller towns like Stratford for its space and affordability.

“A lot of people who moved here haven’t experienced the city (during a normal festival season),” said Kristene Steed, owner/operator of the ever-popular Rheo Thompson Candies, around the corner from the Avon Theatre.

“We’re ready to show it off.”

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