Peggy Revell
The Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship has opted to tighten its belt even further to ensure next Wednesday’s parade of boats goes ahead as planned despite an unexpected $1,200 price tag from the local OPP for a police presence along the route.
“We’d like to keep the same parade route and we’ll pay the costs associated with it,” FFCBC chair Gord Watson said about the board’s decision at a meeting yesterday evening.
Given its tight budget for this year’s tournament, the FFCBC board had requested that town council cover this cost.
But citing that this service always had been provided free of charge by the OPP before, council balked at footing the bill during its meeting Monday night.
Instead, council advised the FFCBC board to investigate other options, such as asking Treaty #3 police to assist or changing the route so that it would not require police assistance.
“We’re not judging either or,” stressed Watson. “We’re just trying to have a parade, just trying to have a good community event.
“And if there are new costs associated with it, it is what it is and we’ll just work through it and pay it,” he reasoned.
Watson noted the FFCBC is coming off a deficit year and admitted this year’s budget is going to be tight.
“We have a heck of a budget [the] committee put together, and they will work through it,” he vowed.
He noted there won’t be specific cuts, but instead they’ll just “tighten up a little bit more across the board.”
The popularity of the boat parade is the reason the FFCBC wants to ensure it runs—even with the extra cost, Watson said.
“It’s such a great community event for the kids, and everybody looks forward to it, and we always have a tremendous turnout for the parade,” he remarked.
Watson added organizers are expecting a good angler turnout, with Boston Pizza offering prizes for teams to put their boat in the parade.
“[People] line Scott Street for it, it’s a fun community event,” he reiterated. “So we’re definitely looking forward to it.”
The parade will kick off at 5 p.m. next Wednesday (July 20), starting at the old CN station, following Central Avenue to Scott Street, and then winding up at the Memorial Sports Centre.
