LAC LA BICHE - If you're going to take over the coordination of a community event, you might want to first tell the people who have been coordinating it for the last 60 years.
That's how the current president of the Lac La Biche Pow Wow Days an Fish Derby Association feels about the recent announcement by Lac La Biche County officials that the municipality should take over a big part of the annual event's planning.
"Wait a minute — shouldn't they have asked us first," said Lavon Fleming after watching the proposal presented by municipal associate CAO of recreation and community services Darrell Lessmeister on the online livestream of last Tuesday's regular council meeting. "The guy just said he's going to be doing our job, but we didn't know anything about it."
Lessmeister's presentation to council explained how the municipality should just coordinate the event — now operating as Lac La Biche Summer Days — while still working with the volunteer groups that support the annual event.
Already a major player in the annual event's planning, the municipality generally offers services, in-kind support of people-power, supplies or locations, and funding, normally through the main Pow Wow Days association that has been running the show since 1962. Going forward, Lessmeister said the municipality should take on more of a role, moving the long-weekend community celebration to "more of of a planned event, than a reactive event." He said just handing out funding to the organizing association was likely not going to be the way things continued.
While crediting the 2021 organizers for putting on a successful mult-event celebration while working around changing COVID pandemic measures, Lessmeister said the municipality played a significant role, and funded the event to the tune of about $32,000.
"We took a lot of that on, doing it and working with the community organization to do that," he said, explaining the idea to take over the event's planning is based on many factors including the growing challenges of community organizations to find volunteers. "So what we are proposing here is to work with the community."
Suggesting a terms of reference for the new work-flow and inviting all of the community organizations to a meeting, Lessmeister initially said he'd "had conversations" with the current association and "would bring them to the table as well". When asked by councillor Darlene Beniuk moments later if he had spoken to them since the 2021 weekend event, Lessmeister said he hadn't.
"We had conversations with them last year ... but until it came to council, I was not about to put (the new plan) out there until council gives me the direction to go and do it," he said.
Beniuk suggested tabling the idea until the groups, and in particular the Pow Wow Days Association, had some say.
Lessmeister said the plan would be to bring all the organizations to the table early in the new year to discuss the overall event.
Beniuk, along with councillors Charlyn Moore, Jason Stedman and Lorin Tkachuk pushed to make sure that the association remained the lead organizing group of the event, helped by the municipality.
"They are probably going to be the number-one executor of this event, but we are going to help them coordinate. Is that what I'm understanding?" Tkachuk asked Lessmeister, before bluntly asking if the association was being cut out of the planning.
The recreation department's boss said the association would be part of the discussions, suggesting they could continue their work with the midway or a fish derby, or other aspects of the event.
"They would be one of the organizations that we work with," Lessmeister replied, saying the municipality's involvement would bring some stability to the organization of the annual event. "Like I said, we are not going to be doing it, we are going to make sure it's done in a coordinated effort ... we don't want to have this last minute, we don't want to be running around to make sure this is done. We want a coordinated effort."
Council voted in favour of pursuing the idea to coordinate the Lac La Biche Summer Days event.
Watching as the decision was made, Fleming showed frustrations.
"This has been the community's event. It has been a community association behind it and over decades that association has forged relationships with organizations," she said. "It feels like a significant upheaval."
It's also a significant change coming when there are so many things still being explored by the association and the groups it partners with.
Fleming says there have been recent discussions for the association to take over the former curling rink to help with fundraising initiatives like a monthly community bingo, meeting space for community groups, as well as storage for Pow Wow Days Association inventory. She said other initiative and plans like an officially naming of the bingo pavilion on the recreation grounds to highlight long-time Pow Wow Days bingo organizer Emma Rayko, are still being explored. Over the last few weeks, the association has also been disbursing donations to local groups and organizations for their continuing support of the event.
"There continues to be a lot of work left," said Fleming, adding that municipal officials did contact her to arrange a meeting after council had made the decision to go ahead with the coordination plan. "I'm extremely disappointed at how this is playing out."
While further discussions between the municipality and the association will continue, the behind-the-scenes activities can't outshine the importance of moving ahead with community's main summer event, says newly-elected mayor Paul Reutov.
"In my opinion, I think we need to build this event bigger, attract whatever can be ... I think that without events, without fairs, without these kinds of things, communities tend to be forgotten," he said, encouraging community members to think outside the box, and to invite other groups to the table for more ideas. "For a smaller community you have to have multiple events to keep people interested. I think it is a huge asset for the community, so let's not let it die. We have to grow it, not kill it."
Fleming said there has been no specific date set for a meeting with municipal officials about coordinating next year's La La Biche Summer Days event. The 2022 edition of the event will be its 60th anniversary.
