Will Bay Street road work clog the arteries of Sault's first Poutine Feast?

The holy trinity of cheese curds, French fries and brown gravy will be celebrated June 28 to July 1 at Ermatinger-Clergue National Historic Site

In this stock image, hot gravy is rendering the fresh cheese curds slightly mushy, causing them to string out over the fries in a gastronomical phenomenon variously described as bliss, rapture or poutine heaven

As construction crews prepare to shred Bay Street this summer, downtown business owners are strung out with worries of road work smothering Sault Ste. Marie's first multi-day poutine festival.

"I can see this being one of the busiest events ever because it goes together with Canada Day," Paul Scornaienchi from Ergo Office Plus told Wednesday night's meeting of the Downtown Association board of directors.

"I'm wondering if staff could contact public works and transit to make sure that Bay Street is not going to be under construction. The only thing that could downfall this event is traffic," Scornaienchi said.

The four-day celebration of the holy trinity of cheese curds, French fries and brown gravy is set for June 28 to July 1 at the Ermatinger-Clergue National Historic Site.

Josh Ingram, the Downtown Association's executive director, said both his group and Ermatinger-Clergue have reached out to the city's engineering staff, but have so far received no assurances that Bay Street – a major artery for U.S. visitors arriving off the International Bridge – won't be clogged by road work on Canada's 152 birthday.

"We don't have any guarantees on it right now," Ingram said.

"We'll continue the asks. We've made city departments aware of this since February."

The city is reducing Bay Street from four lanes to two lanes with bike lanes, a tree-lined boulevard and pedestrian walkways.

Other downtown news:

the Downtown Association is running out of space at 496 Queen St. E. and is starting to look around for another headquarters. "I feel our organization butting up against capacity on a regular basis this year," Ingram told Wednesday night's meeting
a World's Largest Garage Sale event is planned for June 1. Downtown Association members will be encouraged to display discounted wares on sidewalks and merchants from outside the core will be allowed to occupy pop-up locations
the association has received written confirmation that its staff may now use a snowblower to clear snow. Staffers must have appropriate Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) status, must use proper safety equipment and must never blow snow onto the road