The success of the recent Sicamous Burnout had more to do with the host community than the event it was tied to.
Or at least, this is the feedback Shirley Holcomb received as she was greeting bikers from all over who had come to town Friday, July 20 for the second annual event.
“I passed out cards to all the bikers and their girlfriends, and they said this was the best one, that it was way better than Vernon, and they said they couldn’t believe, with all the problems that have been here, how good it was organized and put on. And they would like you to put on the big one,” Holcomb told Sicamous council at their July 25 regular meeting.
Councillors too had positive things to say of the event, commending the Sicamous chamber and others for their co-ordinating effort. Coun. Terry Rysz, who helped with the beer garden, said plans are already in the works for next year’s burnout.
“I think already that we’ve had a couple of meetings since then with one of our great Albertans who did a lot of work there. That was Shane Yarmoloy, and next year he’s presenting maybe the possibility of us using some of his property and making it a two-day event, possibly a three day event, and making some changes and adding to it,” Rysz explained, adding he felt particularly great about the fact that the event was called the 2nd Annual Sicamous Burnout, and not after the sponsor, Sturgis North. He indicated the reputation of the latter isn’t faring as well.
Mayor Darrell Trouton was also pleased with the burnout being a successful Sicamous event, adding Sturgis helped to promote the event but failed to come through with a feature.
“Sturgis was on a promotion part only for this event – they asked if they could put it on their calendar and promote it for Sicamous,” said Trouton. “They also made a recommendation that they would supply five of the top bike builders in the world to come show up for autographs and so forth, but we’ve seen nothing of that… They never came and I hadn’t heard any word otherwise that they wouldn’t be here.”
While he was unable to attend the Burnout, Trouton also applauded the chamber, the different volunteer groups, and Sicamous’ public works department, for all the work that was done.
Coun. Don Richardson, who did attend the burnout, had his own suggestion for next year’s event: drag lawnmowers.
“We’ve got to figure out how to burn the tires up,” joked Richardson.