Duane Hicks
While plans are in place for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship to take place at the Ice For Kids Arena again this year, the bass committee will consider relocating back to the Sorting Gap Marina for 2012.
At a meeting between town council and FFCBC directors yesterday to discuss various requests for help for this year’s tournament, Mayor Roy Avis wondered—given policing costs have risen after moving the event to the arena—whether the board had considered moving it back to the Sorting Gap, adding he’s aware some people prefer the waterfront atmosphere.
FFCBC chair Gord Watson replied the board held a special meeting last week, where directors elected to keep the event at the arena for this year.
But he added after the tournament is over, the FFCBC will strike a committee to evaluate the pros and cons of returning to the Sorting Gap Marina in the future, where it was held for its first 15 years of existence.
“The big reason that the tournament looked at not going back to the waterfront this year is that it took about two-and-a-half to three months just to get a budget together and slimmed down, and pricing and everything in place,” explained former FFCBC chair Jim Cumming, who now is recording secretary for the board.
“To go to an entirely new venue, and go through the whole exercise of creating a budget to make it happen and negotiations with all the potential suppliers, we couldn’t see how it could happen by the end of June,” he added.
“The timeframe is just too short at this point,” Cumming stressed.
Meanwhile, council seems willing to meet most of the FFCBC’s requests this year.
But while on board with donating $5,000 to the operating budget of the FFCBC, council does not want to waive the $3,000 in rental fees for the Ice For Kids Arena.
Coun. Ken Perry said they cannot let the FFCBC rent the arena for free, then have the FFCBC turn around and charge the local Chamber of Commerce to use the same ice surface for its “Quest for the Best.”
“You’d hear it from me later, if you didn’t hear it from me now. I’d be nuts,” Coun. Perry added.
“We can’t do that,” he stressed. “We can’t give you something for free so you can rent it out for us and give us nothing in return.”
Instead, the FFCBC will pursue an additional $3,000 in local initiatives grants through the Rainy River Future Development Corp. to apply to the rental fees.
The FFCBC and town also will work together to come up with an agreement for the FFCBC to pay back the town $6,100 in rental fees it still owes from last year—most likely over a three- to five-year period.
Other requests the various executive committees are recommending council approve range from authorizing the use of two picnic tables on the site and painting lines in the AbitibiBowater wood yard to waiving launch fees for tournament competitors and volunteers during the tournament (but not before).
Council also is recommended to provide and install chain link fencing to fence off the area north of the Ice For Kids Arena and east of the ’52 Canadians Arena.
All of the recommendations from the various executive committees will be subject to council’s final say at its next regular meeting on April 25.
In related news, the FFCBC has cut its budget by $75,000, including reducing the entertainment budget by $44,000, in order to make the event viable this year.
FFCBC director Doug Cain said a local band is booked for the Saturday night (July 23) while the FFCBC is looking for a reasonably-priced tribute act for the Friday night (July 22).
The Thursday night (July 21) will feature pre-recorded music while the FFCBC is in talks with the Chamber of Commerce in hopes “Quest for the Best” will be held on the Wednesday night (July 20).
