‘Very disconcerting’: Bingemans looking for answers and options amid provincial lockdown

With a province-wide lockdown on the horizon, Bingemans has announced that they will be shutting down their Gift of Lights holiday drive-through experience on boxing day to abide by COVID-19 guidelines. Originally set to run until January 17, the call from the province is said to have come as somewhat of a surprise for the entertainment venue, as previous wording regarding a regional lockdown would have allowed them to stay open. Instead, Bingemans will be refunding ticket purchases from December 26th onward, while working with municipalities and similar event organizers to open a dialogue with the province.

Effective immediately, Gift of Lights ticket sales for December 26th onwards have been suspended until further notice. Our hope is to be able to continue to operate however, if this is not the case all ticket purchasers will be fully refunded for December 26th onwards. pic.twitter.com/3NhvJvwsZ5

— Bingemans (@Bingemans) December 22, 2020

Mark Bingeman is the President of Bingemans and said he and his staff were “shocked and dismayed” to hear that their drive through event would no longer be permitted to run. Speaking on regional guidelines from late November, Bingeman said that the description of lockdown allowed the ability for drive-ins and drive through events to still occur.

“When we were getting questions from guests and clients… when they were talking within the region about us potentially going to lockdown – we were communicating, according to the documents, we can still operate…” said Bingeman.

Bingeman said the change in verbiage from the regional lockdown to province-wide was ‘disconcerting’, as he said he cannot understand why municipal and privately-operated walk-through light shows are still able to operate while a ‘totally in-car experience’ cannot.

“They’re promoting them for people to come out – there’s no controls, nobody out there policing and enforcing social distancing and masks (…) it just makes no real sense to any of the operators of these drive through events across the province…”

Speaking to the financial impact of the event’s premature closure, Bingeman said the Gift of Lights drive through is one of the few events that was permitted to generate revenue, offsetting significant losses seen through the year. Bingeman also said there’ll likely be financial pressure in offering full refunds to those who have purchased tickets from the 26th onward, though he said the company can not in good conscious accept payment for goods they cannot deliver.

From a safety perspective, Bingeman said the holiday light display has ‘extremely limited interaction’, likely less than going through a drive-thru for a coffee. With several policies and procedures in place for staff, Bingeman said those managing the activity have their temperatures checked – equipped with PPE and maintaining distance from customers and other staff members.

“As the cars are rolling up – many of the people in the vehicles have their passes on their phones or they’ve printed them out. A lot of them just put them up to their windows – we can scan through that and then process them through…”

Bingeman said he and other operators of similar events have reached out to Premier Ford as well as Minister Rod Phillips’ office to try and have them ‘pivot’ their decision on closing drive-through displays – though he said hasn’t heard much yet.

“It’s not just about Christmas – ourselves and many other operators across the province have a whole program of drive through events coming up…” said Bingeman. “With this current situation, depending on how long this lasts (…) to we exert those funds to get ready to operate? Or are we not going to be permitted to operate. These are very significant issues – not just for the time being but as we move forward to 2021.”

Bingeman adds that he feels it’s ‘unconscionable’ that walking events are permitted, while drive through events have been denied. He also mentioned that his organization has tried to pivot to a drive-through event for Gift of Lights and were denied that ability.

“It’s just a very unfortunate and frustrating position to be in…”