LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County approved a $10,000 sponsorship for a talent show taking place during Pow Wow Days this summer, bringing the total for the weekend to $170,000.
According to the presentation at the June 24 council meeting by Shawn McDonald and Ab Beisel of the Resource One Aboriginal Business Association, the talent show is being held in place of their annual golf tournament.
“With the construction going on at the golf course, we cannot hold our annual golf tournament. So, I had the idea of hosting the talent show during Pow Wow Days, to bring that to its former glory as well,” said McDonald.
Called the Walter Quinn Talent Show in honour of McDonald’s late uncle, who was an Indigenous musician, the event will showcase music and dancing from multiple cultures including indigenous, Ukrainian, and Lebanese.
“There’s going to be jigging, there's going to be fiddling, there's going to be singing. We're bringing in some higher end talent to come for Sunday as well,” said McDonald.
In discussion of the request, Ward 7 Coun. Lorin Tkachuk and Ward 3 Coun. Colette Borgun both expressed concerns about coordination with other events scheduled during Pow Wow Days.
“I just want to make sure that if the county is putting money towards it, which I have no problem with, that we're working collaboratively with the other big-ticket events that are going on that weekend,” said Tkachuk.
Ward 5 Coun. Charlyn Moore questioned taking the money from accumulated surplus versus from money already budgeted for events.
“Is there not money in the one-day Pow Wow large budget that we set aside, in the already funded Pow Wow budget,” said Moore.
“One not for profit cannot fund another not for profit, so meaning Pow Wow Association cannot fund and trickle down to ROABA. That’s why we took it on separately. That’s why we’re asking funders of our regular golf tournament to help fund the talent show,” said McDonald.
He noted that if they do not have enough sponsors, the event will not go ahead and that the total budget for the talent show is approximately $35,000.
According to Tkachuk, when the in-kind donations are included Lac La Biche County will be spending approximately $170,000 on the Pow Wow Days weekend.
“It's big. It's much larger than we've ever spent. So, I can understand Councillor Moore's reservation about another $10,000, another $10,000, and another $10,000 starts to be a little bit much,” said Tkachuk.
Typically, when funding requests come to council, the presentation is taken as information and administration returns with a recommendation at the next meeting. According to GM of Corporate Services Hafsah Mograhbi, the grants budget is being fully utilized.
“And it's not even the end of end of summer yet. We do have another event that's happening too, and we do have sponsorships still coming in. So, this is why council should kind of make a decision today on this one,” said Mograhbi.
Deputy Mayor Jason Stedman said he does not like “spending money off the fly without getting a report back from administration.”
“But we don't have another meeting until the ninth, so I will be supportive of it. I'm looking forward to it, but I don't want to set a precedent. It's uncomfortable for me when we do that,” said Stedman.
Ward 7 Coun. John Mondal made the motion to “approve the funding for ROABA in the amount of $10,000 to be funded from accumulated surplus.” The motion carried with unanimous support.
Pow Wow Days takes place from July 31 to Aug. 4.
