ELK POINT – With the final details crossed off the lengthy to-do list and the final tickets sold last Friday, the ‘Hats Off to Excellence” Business Awards Gala is all set to go on Saturday evening at the Allied Arts Centre, starting at 6 p.m.
What’s next for Elk Point and District Chamber of Commerce? Why, the 2023 Christmas Extravaganza, of course!
With Town of Elk Point CAO Ken Gwozdz on hand with the good news that council approved the use of the area east of the EcoCentre, snowplowing and power usage for the event that up to now has been called the Forest of Lights, the chamber was ready to discuss other ways to kick off the Christmas season with an event that hopefully will involve the whole community, emphasized Extravaganza Committee chair Shirley Harms. F. G. Miller High School’s 30th Annual Crusader Craft Show is slated for Saturday, Now. 25 “and we want to embrace it as part of a community Christmas weekend.”
Alycia Pollard, who is in charge of the craft show this year, will be part of the Extravaganza committee, along with Alyssa Harms, Glenn Harms and Vicki Brooker, Harms noted, “and we have so much to think of and do so that Friday, Nov. 24 with the light-up and parade can be an Extravaganza good for everyone.”
The event’s planning is off to a good start, and already has some startup funds. Chamber members approved a motion to allocate $1,000 from the chamber and $1,000 from the EDC budget toward the event.
“And we need to find a new name for the Forest of Lights,” chamber president Terri Hampson said, adding that she will look after that part of the event, which will also welcome seasonal displays as well as trees again this year.
Other business on the October meeting’s agenda included potential fundraising ideas that ranged from a photo contest to recipe books to a dance marathon that Hampson said “could be a spring fundraiser.”
Also on the agenda was the potential of the chamber running a 60 km Pony Express addition to next year’s Iron Horse 100 marathon, with Hampson ready to make lists of what that would involve, for further discussion at the November chamber meeting.
In reports from the membership, Gwozdz said council will be working on the 2024 draft budget on Nov. 7 and 8, and that Investigative Assurance will be contracted for bylaw enforcement. Two owners of unsightly premises have been compliant “and 90 per cent of the others are in the downtown area. He told the chamber that a public hearing would be held at the Nov. 27 town council meeting, which will be in the Northern Lights building to provide space for more to attend, as the hearing involved a municipal controlled corporation that is a joint venture with Frog Lake First Nation and an Edmonton business involving hemp.
Harms reported that Lakeland Realty had been “really busy, but it will subside when there is snowfall. There is a lot of regional work, but we need to be more regional to survive.”
Jean Pelchat told chamber that Cornerstone Co-op’s “transactions are up but shoppers are buying less,” possibly making more trips to the store than usual.
Hampson said that Northern Lights has an 18-month position open for a contract librarian and is repainting their board room.
