The parking lot of Centennial Arena is being considered as a potential location with multiple artists performing
City Council will consider three alternatives for a scaled-down version of the Elliot Lake Uranium Days thus summer
The consideration comes after Council looked an initial plans for the event, which is planned to be held for the first time in three years.
The revised proposal comes to Council as part of a special virtual meeting planned for Tuesday night after an initial discussion on March 28.
This time, recreation and culture manager Karilynn Kluke has provided council with three budget options and three venue alternatives for this year’s dance.
Her recommendation is that the city spend an upside limit of $25,722 to host the event in the Centennial Arena parking lot and to allow staff to book available entertainment based on council’s recommendations.
In years past, prior to COVID-19, the street dance had a variety of headlining artists and, as expected, name artists have generally sold more tickets for the events.
In her written report, Kluke noted, “In past years, the street dance has been hosted in the downtown lower plaza and inside Centennial Arena.
“Council has also suggested we consider the location of Mt. Dufour for the venue,” she continued.
Following a few week’s research with a promoter and booking agencies, the city has been provided with a few different artists options still available for the July 2 event.
The highest price category is for one to two name artists and an event ticket price of $35 in advance, $45 at the door.
For a mid-scale artist, ticket prices would be considered at $30 in advance and $40 at the door and that would involve an up-and-coming artist, or someone less-current than a top flight offering.
The third of the three artist budgets would be for a non-headliner, possibly local or regional entertainer with ticket prices of approximately $20 in advance and $30 at the door.
Stage and production required for all three categories would be identical.
The downtown lower plaza, Mt. Dufour ski hill parking lot and the arena parking lot are the three suggested dance locations. Each has its own assets and shortcomings.
Kluke added, there are a number of factors which will impact the expected net loss ranging from $25,722 to $22,231, and $15,536 for the lowest category.
She recommended an upset limit of $28,669 for the budget which covers all three categories.
With time for booking growing short, council’s choice will likely be made at Tuesday night’s special meeting to be livestreamed on the city’s website at 7 p.m.
After a two-year COVID-19 hiatus, one of the Vancouver Sikh community’s most important events returned Saturday, albeit in a scaled-down form.
The annual Vaisakhi festival and parade usually spans dozens of blocks in southeast Vancouver, drawing thousands of people. There are dozens of free food vendors serving Indian dishes, colourful parade floats, musicians and dancers.
Vancouver Khalsa Diwan Society President Malkip Singh Dhami said the massive event takes four to five months to plan, something that was impossible to do amid the uncertainty of the fifth wave of the pandemic.
“The city was reluctant to give us the permission, so finally we agreed to scale it down and do it in the (Ross Street temple) compound of the Khalsa Diwan Society,” he said.
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Organizers set up multiple booths outside the temple and planned a smaller parade within the grounds.
Vaisakhi is one of the most important days on the Sikh calendar, marking the formation of the Khalsa in 1699, and is also culturally significant as a spring harvest festival and the beginning of the Punjabi new year.
“It’s a big occasion for us,” Taranpreet Kaur told Global News as she entered the temple grounds with friends on Saturday.
“After two years, smiling faces, people getting ready without masks, it’s been good,” she added. “They are trying their best to maintain the health and safety procedures and still celebrating our festival. It’ still better than not having a parade.”
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Vancouver’s annual event, and the even larger one traditionally held the following week, are viewed as the world’s largest Vaisakhi celebration outside of India.
Surrey’s drew more than 500,000 people in 2019, but was scrapped this year due to what organizers described as “constantly changing” COVID-19 restrictions.
Back in Vancouver, Dhami said even with the smaller event planned, the excitement was palpable.
“Tremendous response, because after two years of absence, no function has been held,” he said. “Next year, if everything goes well, we will have the full-scale parade again.”
The Giants Head Grind — Christopher Walker Memorial Race is returning to Summerland in May. However this year the fundraising event will be smaller than in the past.
The event is an uphill race from the shore of Okanagan Lake at Peach Orchard Beach up to the summit of Giant’s Head Mountain. The course is 5.6 kilometres, with an elevation gain of 500 metres.
The event was first held in 2014 and continued annually until 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 event was cancelled and the 2021 race was held as a virtual race rather than a traditional contest.
This year it will be limited to 100 participants for the in-person event. Within a day after registration opened on April 13, the event had almost filled.
Aside from the start of the race at the beach, all other events including breakfast, yoga, barbecue and awards ceremony will be held at the Summerland Waterfront Resort.
“We appreciate that some people are concerned about large groups, and with the rise in the latest variants we want to ensure that everyone is feeling as comfortable as possible. We are also aware that many of our volunteers are also stretched for time as the world begins to reopen,” said Ellen Walker-Matthews, organizer of the event.
In addition to the in-person race, a supporter race package is also available this year. This event is open to an unlimited number of people. Similar to the 2021 event, the supporter package allows participants to run the race on their own, either in Summerland or at another location.
“We’re excited that it’s going to continue in a slightly different form this year,” Walker-Matthews said. “For 2023, it will be very nice to do a full event.”
The grind began in 2014, in memory of Walker-Matthews’s son Chris Walker, who died from colorectal cancer in 2013. The event raised money for colorectal cancer research and to improving the trails in Giant’s Head Park in Summerland.
FAST START: Goat racing, a staple of Easter celebrations in Tobago will resume, albeit on a scaled-down level, after a two-year absence due to the pandemic. FILE PHOTO –
AFTER a two-year hiatus, visitors to Tobago will once again get the opportunity to enjoy goat and crab racing at Buccoo over the long Easter weekend.
But it will not be the grand affair to which they have become accustomed but a scaled-down version of the popular event.
Buccoo/Mt Pleasant representative Sonny Craig confirmed on Thursday that an event, titled A Taste of Buccoo, will be held at the integrated facility on Easter Tuesday.
“We would have most what people are accustomed to, the crab races, the goat races,” he said.
Craig urged people to attend.
“The crowds will be welcomed, because there are no longer safe zones, and we are going to pull it off successfully.”
There was some speculation that the event would not be held for a third consecutive year after its main organisers, the Buccoo Village Council, issued a statement on Wednesday saying there would be no Buccoo Goat and Crab Race Festival over the Easter weekend.
Its decision came less than a week after the Prime Minister announced the removal of safe zones and covid19 restrictions in most sectors.
SIGNATURE EVENTS
The Buccoo Goat and Crab Race Festival is one of Tobago’s signature cultural events. But it was not held for the past two years owing to the covid19 pandemic.
In its statement, the village council’s PRO Winston Pereira said owing to the “late notice of the repeal of the national covid19 health guidelines,” it would not be able to host the event.
“We also want to make it clear that we are not involved with any other comparable activity that may be held in the neighbourhood throughout the Easter weekend of 2022,” he added.
Pereira said the village council has already started organising for the “thrilling return” of the festival in 2023.
Craig said long before the Prime Minister announced the lifting of restrictions, last week Saturday, the village council had taken the position that even if the restrictions were lifted, there would not be sufficient time to pull off a successful event.
“So they basically said, respectfully, that they would not be able to do it. But being the representative for the area and having conversations with the other stakeholders, we thought that it could come off – but it would not be that full-blown event. It would be a taste of Buccoo.”
Craig said as the area’s representative, he was approached by the goat owners and jockeys.
“We were out of the loop for two years…The goat-race business is a dynamic business, because we are dealing with livestock, we dealing with a product that is not entirely indefinite in its ability to sustain itself.”
He said goat owners have reached the point where they are selling their animals “because they depend on this event yearly to keep them going.
“It is fairly lucrative, but it’s only a one-shot event basically. Maintaining the animals for this festival for an entire year has costs attached to it, because just as in the human realm, when the athletes are trained and specific diets are adhered to, the goats have that similar lifestyle.”
He said some goat owners have already sold their animals because there were no financial returns from the festival over the past two years.
Craig said this could lead to the demise of goat racing in Buccoo.
“It is all about the goat owners, the jockeys and the artform itself.”
THERE WILL BE RACES
THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine also said some form of goat racing would take place in Buccoo over the Easter weekend.
“For Easter, we spoke to the folks down in Buccoo and Mt Pleasant. We getting information that they may not be 100 per cent there in terms of wanting to do the event.
“But the goat racers in Buccoo, they want to do the event. So I have asked the area representative (Craig) and the folks at tourism to plan for it, and we will have some goat-racing in Buccoo over the Easter,” he told reporters on Wednesday, after Baptist Liberation celebrations at the Mt Bethel Spiritual Baptist church, Scarborough.
On that occasion, Augustine also said the THA will not be hosting the Tobago Jazz Experience this year.
But, he revealed, “A private promoter contacted me about having jazz and the THA will support something like that.
“It is too late for us to plan Jazz as a THA – no doubt. And of course, we have to take another look at jazz and whether it is viable or not altogether.”
HERITAGE FESTIVAL PLANS
Augustine said Tobago intends to resume hosting its heritage festival.
“I have asked the Division of Culture to begin to make preparations for that in July. So we have some time with that and we will, indeed, have the Heritage Festival in some form or fashion. But Jazz, from the THA perspective, no.”
“We appreciate that there are some fringe events and we will no doubt support them as much as we can.”
Augustine urged Tobagonians to be wary of covid19.
“All I will say is. Tobagonians. just please be careful as you participate in these activities. Know that the virus has not gone anywher. and we don’t want to go back to a significant rise in infections and deaths as a result of covid. So be cautious, careful, protect yourself. The requirement for the mask is still there once you are in public.
He was optimistic otherwise about the outcome of the lifting of public health restrictions.
“There isn’t any limit on the numbers for gatherings. So sectors that lost a lot of money during the lockdown can now begin to earn again and I will support them earning again, once they are doing it in a safe manner.”
