Event venues, including in Saskatoon, were lit up in red Tuesday night as part of a Day of Visibility, to raise awareness of the dire situation facing the industry.

Iconic landmarks like CN Tower, Niagra Falls, and Rogers Arena lit their exteriors red to raise awareness for what organizers say is an industry that is still dark and will be one of the last to recover. SaskTel Centre was lit in red while also pointing out that over a million Canadians employed directly in events, entertainment and professional sports are impacted by COVID-19 .

Cheryl Vickaryous and her husband own Barndog Productions which provides crews and equipment to supply stages at events like Dauphin Country Fest, the Children’s Festival and Le Fete Fransaskoise. She says the production company will not be able to start back up until phase 5 of the Reopen Saskatchewan plan.

“The uncertainty, the never ending debt piling up just to keep your doors open, well, not even open but just to keep your business alive for an eventual opening.”

Phase five of the Reopen Saskatchewan plan has no time line.

Cheryl Vickaryous says the government relief isn’t really relief and the government is throwing businesses like theirs a bone in the form of a loan. If and when they do open, they are playing catch up financially.

“You might just go into debt, only to lose your business anyway. You take the relief, but it has to be paid back.”

Events have been shuttered since COVID-19 hit which means all the jobs and all the businesses associated with the event industry have been stuck in a state of non-working limbo.