Recovery Day Winnipeg Transitions to Virtual Online Event for 2020

Winnipeg, Canada, June 13, 2020 --(PR.com)-- St. Raphael Wellness Centre (SRWC) and Aurora Recovery Centre, the two organizations behind Recovery Day Winnipeg (RDW), have announced the cancellation of the on-site event due to COVID-19 restrictions, which was to be held on September 12, 2020 at The Forks. Instead, Recovery Day Winnipeg 2020 will transition to a virtual, online event on the evening of September 12, 2020.

At this time, the virtual, online event details are in progress in terms of how the new event will look and who will be performing.

“We’re still hopeful that we can bring some big names to the event in September, who will share their personal stories of recovery, as well as treat us to some of their top hits,” states SRWC’s Phil Collins, an Executive Leader for Recovery Day Winnipeg.

Moving the event online means that it must be scaled back, and certain activities will not be possible. Recovery Day Winnipeg was looking forward to adding to its successful and popular Kids’ Zone and Fit Zone. Additional areas that will not be a part of the 2020 event include the vendor area, food trucks, and addiction and mental health organizations booths.

“Of course, the online event means we can only offer so much, but we are actively looking at ways to include our addiction and mental health colleagues in the event, since they can no longer set up booths to showcase their services. We want to try to accommodate everyone, as recovery belongs to the community,” explains Colleen Allan, St. Raphael’s Executive Director and an Executive Leader for Recovery Day Winnipeg.

The 2019 event saw around 5,000 people attend the celebration of recovery at The Forks. The musical headliner featured Canadian rapper Madchild, and the main speaker was Mackenzie Phillips, recovery advocate and actor.

“We were very fortunate to have Mackenzie Phillips speak at our inaugural event in 2019. She’s spoken at recovery events around the world and said straight out that none had achieved the inaugural success that we had. So, to not be able to build on that success with an on-site event this year is very disappointing for all of us, but we still anticipate a few thousand viewers for our online event, which is acceptable with all of the COVID-19 restrictions,” says Ian Rabb, Director of Business Development for Aurora and an executive leader for Recovery Day Winnipeg.

As most events within the province transition to online or virtual, Recovery Day Winnipeg is already looking forward to an on-site event in 2021.

“With our 2020 event going online, we are wanting to make 2021 extra special, so that we can regain the momentum we achieved from RDW 2019. We will still bring a lot of entertainment to our 2020 virtual event, but physically being at an event is what will make us a long term success and staple event in Winnipeg,” states Barret Davies, Marketing Director at Aurora and an Executive Leader for Recovery Day Winnipeg.

Recovery Day Winnipeg celebrates recovery from substance use and addiction, helps end the societal stigma and offers hope, understanding and support for people who are affected by substance use. Recovery Day in Canada started in 2012 by AnnMarie McCullough and Lorinda Strang. Before September 2012, no one had even heard the term “Recovery Day” in Canada. In the years that followed, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Kelowna, and Fredericton all hosted Recovery Days. Then, in 2019, Winnipeg held its first Recovery Day event, adding to the list of Canadian cities celebrating recovery.