Duane Hicks
The Town of Fort Frances will strike up an annual ad-hoc “Fun in the Sun” steering committee to help co-ordinate Canada Day activities in future.
In a report to council, Community Services manager Jason Kabel wrote town events that mark July 1 historically have been organized primarily by community volunteers in concert with in-kind services and a monetary commitment from council.
However, this past year, “there were different requests that were made of council by dissimilar groups that put organization of festivities in jeopardy,” he added.
“As such, an ad-hoc committee comprised of mayor, councillors, and community volunteers banded together to represent the town well in our Canada Day celebration.
“Despite having things come together at the 11th hour, the events were truly successful and enjoyed by all,” noted Kabel.
Kabel said the Community Services division felt it would be best for the town “to have a steering committee in place, purely as an organizational body, to help co-ordinate the efforts of the existing community volunteer groups and ensure all grant opportunities are pursued to help finance Canada Day celebration events.”
He added the steering committee would be of an “ad-hoc” nature, whereby potential members of the committee could be invited to attend and become a temporary member without having to go through the usual application and approval process.
The committee would consist of:
•one citizen at large (and others willing to volunteer);
•one FITS committee member;
•a dragon boat committee member;
•a Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce rep;
•representatives from any other participating volunteer groups;
•two councillors;
•a town treasury rep;
•a recording secretary; and
•Community Services manager (who will serve as the inaugural chair).
Fun in the Sun volunteer Randy Thoms, who also sat on the ad-hoc committee this past summer and was consulted regarding the new steering committee, said the new body will combine involvement by community members and support from the town.
“The membership to the committee is kind of open-ended,” he explained.
“If someone wanted to do, say, a softball tournament, then a spokesperson for the tournament would be allowed to sit on the committee and provide a voice to that event.
“The more voices you have, the more input you have into making a better event,” Thoms reasoned.
“If people are interested in doing events, think about them now,” he stressed.
“If they want a voice at the table, we welcome that voice.”
Thoms clarified the town “is not taking over Canada Day.”
“It’s still being run by community volunteers but the town is there to provide that support,” he said.
“The Fun in the Sun group now has that direct voice into the town, so if there are things that need to be addressed right away, we may not have to make that presentation to council. . . .
“We’ll have that input from council right at the table that will help the rest of us make decisions about different events.”
Thoms said he recommended the new steering committee use the name “Fun in the Sun” because it will allow the existing community volunteer group to access the annual grant funds previously done under the same moniker.
“If we have a new name, we may not be considered as a group that applied for funding last year, and then our grant may get pushed down to the bottom [of the pile],” he warned, noting funding sources may be more likely to give preference to recognizable past applicants.
As in the past, Fun in the Sun activities will require volunteers. But Thoms said there’s been talk of having a designated committee member or agency to handle volunteer requests.
“We are looking at how we can have one separate location, where someone calls and says, ‘I want to be a volunteer,’ instead of calling six different people,” he remarked.
“A one-number type of thing.”
Thoms, who will be involved in next year’s Fun in the Sun celebration but possibly not as chairperson, said the new committee will hold its first meeting in mid- to late-October.
He added he’s glad to see the planning for next year started early, adding the committee already has commitments for children’s events and the dragon boat races.
Getting started now will mean more time to plan and more time to raise funds, reasoned Thoms, adding that ideally by next May, the group could be in a position where it only has to attend to details like advertising.
Council approved the recommendation to sanction the formation of an annual ad-hoc Fun in the Sun steering committee at its regular meeting Monday night.
