Pow Wow Days president addresses festival location concerns

The Lac La Biche Pow Wow Association says people who are worried the annual Pow Wow Days festival is completely pulling up stakes this year shouldn’ t be.

Association president Helen Haimour says some events will indeed be relocating to the Bold Center, but there will still be attractions aplenty at the Pow Wow grounds in downtown Lac La Biche.

“At the Bold Center, that’ s where we’ re having all the entertainment,” she said. “We still have the parade (in downtown), as usual. We still have the fireworks, as usual. We still have the midway, as usual.”

Nightly concerts, the talent show and the Citizen of the Year announcement are among the events slated to take place at the Bold Center.

There should be enough attractions to draw people to both festival locations, Haimour says-and this way, there should be fewer headaches for the organizers.

“The main reasons that I chose to relocate are lack of manpower-there’ s just a handful of us-and lack of funds,” she said.

She says she’ s hearing feedback from community members who are opposed to the idea of moving the festival even partially, but also from people who are on-side with it.

“I’ ve heard from families, especially from parents, who’ re saying, ‘We can do the midway and then get out of there,’ ” said Haimour. “So they can do the midway thing and then come and enjoy the entertainment.”

There will a free park-and-ride service to shuttle people from the Pow Wow grounds to the Bold Center and back. Having the bulk of the entertainment at the multiplex is necessary because events have grown in scope, Haimour says.

“The entertainment’ s grown really big in the last couple of years,” she said. “Now that we’ ve added more, we need a facility for it.”

Last year, a big-top tent was the venue for all of the entertainment, but that turned out to be very costly, she says. With the Bold Center, the organizers gain a more cost-efficient location, plus air conditioning and wheelchair accessibility.

“The Bold Center staff is really excited about doing this,” she added. “They’ ve been working really well with us. I think they’ re looking forward to it and this is going to be huge for them, too.”