LAC LA BICHE - The annual Lac La Biche Summer Days event that draws thousands of community members and visitors to the area for festivities, a parade, carnival and more, is currently in the planning stages for 2022. The annual summer celebration, which began in 1962 with the Lac La Biche Pow Wow Days and Fish Derby Association, is celebrating 60 years this summer.
Last week, organizers held their annual general meeting to solidify board members and gather funding for the celebration, said Lavon Fleming, the current president of the Pow Wow Days and Fish Derby Association.
While only a handful of people actually attended last week’s meeting, organizers say that several people expressed interest in joining the association at the board level, but couldn’t make the meeting. The involvement of the Lac La Biche and District Chamber of Commerce again this year is also expected to draw attention.
Other community groups have also expressed an intent to re-join the planning process and take part in the event. Fleming is also expecting to see the municipality assist as it has in previous years with in-kind services and financial contributions.
“We’ve engaged with the Chamber of Commerce to assist in driving the event forward and we’re hoping that our community groups will continue to partner with the Summer Days association,” said Fleming following the recent meeting.
More opportunity
The recent name-change from Pow Wow Days to Summer Days has given the event organizers an opportunity to expand events for the summer celebration, says Fleming. Last year, the Lord Strathcona’s Mounted Horse Troop was again part of the weekend events, showcasing the tradition and pageantry of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“With a rebranding, we can open ourselves up to new, more exciting and creative ideas for our event,” said Fleming, who is looking forward to this year’s event, but also hoping to draw even more new faces to the organizing committee.
With new board members taking over the event this year, the board is in the process of finalizing an agreement to transition the new members. Fleming says she will continue to be involved in Summer Days on a smaller scale.
“I’ll be assisting the events in a much smaller capacity,” she told Lakeland This Week.
What days?
While planning is underway, there are still several outstanding questions about this year’s running of the Summer Days weekend. The big one is what days are Summer Days? Several factors are affecting setting a date, says Fleming, including the proposed downtown streetscape construction project slated to start this year.
Fleming says she has reached out to municipal officials about the effect the construction project could have on specific Summer Days events like the parade or sporting events in the downtown recreation areas. Concerns about traffic flow and downtown parking also need to be ironed-out.
“Our biggest concern that we have this moment is our Main Street. How does that affect our event? I have contacted the Mayor and we’re just hoping to have a healthy conversation with him to assist and understand where we are at,” she said.
Fleming is confident that the Mayor and municipality will support the event but commented that some of the connections between the municipality and the association have been challenged by the removal of a municipal representative from the association’s board.
“In 2020 the association received notification from the county administration that we would no longer have council representation on the associations' board,” said Fleming, adding that an upcoming session of county councillors to re-examine their roles on community committees could serve as an opportunity to request that a representative is re-instated to the community’s longest-running summer event. “We will be sending communication to council requesting a representative.”
The event that draws thousands both from the area and out of town is the “communities premiere event” for carnival and summer activities, and having representation from all local organizations and the municipality alike is important, she says.
Last year’s event, although scaled back by COVID restrictions managed to raise more than $59,000 for local charities and organizations.
New look
While there are still some items up in the air, new and returning organizers of the event say the 60th anniversary will be a memorable one. This year, the board has new and exciting additions that the community can look forward to, but for now, it will have to stay a surprise, said Fleming.
The association's next meeting will be scheduled in the coming weeks. More details on this year’s Summer Days are expected at that time.
