Volunteers key

You’ve got to admire—and envy—Ely, Mn.
Faced with changes to fishing regulations and a flagging mining industry 30 years ago, the small town (population 3,500 in the winter months) didn’t shrivel up. Rather, it catered to the influx of canoeists to the boundary waters area to tap into a whole new tourist market.
Today, some 10,000 non-residents pass through a day during July and August. Its Blueberry Festival draws 30,000-plus each July while the Harvest Moon Festival and Ely Winter Festival routinely get some 15,000 attendees each year.
Wow.
Ely business owner Steve Piragis was here last Thursday evening to say Fort Frances can become a similar tourist destination. And why not? We’ve got the population base. We have beautiful Northwestern Ontario on our doorstep. And surely we have the skills to market ourselves.
So what’s the missing ingredient? In a word: volunteers.
Fort Frances had a wonderful summer celebration each year in Fun in the Sun. But it pales in comparison nowadays because too few people are willing to help organize it. The Little Amik Winter Carnival, hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce, has long fallen by the wayside due to the lack of volunteers.
The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, now our cornerstone event, suddenly is threatened by volunteer burnout. If fact, if a director isn’t found immediately to take over “Daytime Land,” that portion of the festival faces the axe.
Community festivals are wonderful ways to attract visitors to our area, not to mention keeping alive a community spirit for residents. But they don’t happen by magic—it takes dedicated volunteers to make them vibrant and successful.
Dedicated volunteers, unfortunately, who are drying up all too quickly here.
That has to change if we are to survive and thrive not only as a tourist destination, but as a community.