HOPE Volleyball Summerfest festivities smoke-free

Ottawa – Tomorrow, HOPE Volleyball Summerfest, in partnership with the City of Ottawa, will celebrate its first year as a smoke-free event. All festivities including the tournament, concerts and other activities will take place in a smoke-free environment. 

“HOPE is very pleased to be working with the City of Ottawa to promote a smoke-free HOPE Volleyball Summerfest. HOPE joins a long list of many other Ottawa festivals and events that support smoke-free outdoor environments,” said HOPE Volleyball Summerfest Executive Director, Holly Tarrison. “Spectators, players and festival goers can now enjoy the festival without exposure to second-hand smoke.”

Mooney’s Bay Park will play host to HOPE as in years past but with a key difference:  it is now smoke-free as part of the City of Ottawa’s expanded smoke-free regulations that took effect April 2, 2012. All outdoor municipal properties are now smoke-free, including parks, beaches, sports fields, outdoor areas around City facilities, outdoor restaurant and bar patios, as well as the ByWard and Parkdale Market stands.

 “HOPE is a very popular event that brings the community together and raises a lot of money for local charities, a number of which are children’s charities,” said Chair of the Board of Health, Councillor Diane Holmes. “HOPE is a great example of a large scale event that will take place on smoke-free property and is hugely successful. Participants can now enjoy the outdoors without having to worry about second-hand smoke.”

“Smoke-free outdoor spaces have been shown to protect people from second-hand smoke, reduce smoking rates, decrease youth initiation rates and increase quit attempts,” said Dr. Isra Levy, Ottawa’s Medical Officer of Health. “They can also help reduce cigarette butt litter in our parks and beaches.”

To learn more about Ottawa’s new smoke-free regulations, or if you need help to quit smoking, please visit ottawa.ca/smokefree or call 3-1-1.

If you are a festival or event organizer and would like to arrange for training of your staff and volunteers, please e-mail [email protected] or call the Ottawa Public Health Information Line at 613-580-6744. You can also connect with Ottawa Public Health on Facebook and Twitter (@ottawahealth).