Re: “Council drops Canada Day fireworks,” in last week’s Eagle Valley News.
District council moving the fireworks display to the long week-end in August, and the event not being held on Canada Day, is a very bad decision.
Canada Day has been celebrated across this great country of ours for years with fireworks in July, but I guess the citizens of Sicamous are not worthy of following the tradition like the rest of Canada.
This is just another knee-jerk decision by council that will do more harm to our town, which is trying to recover from the financial disaster caused by the floods and bad press last summer.
It seems like council wants Sicamous to fail as a tourist town, and this decision will have additional collateral damage to local businesses.
No out-of-town visitor’s means commercial enterprises such as the pubs, liquor stores, motels, restaurants, Askew’s, D Dutchmen, golf courses, campgrounds, variety stores and dollar stores, houseboat rentals and Parkland Building Supplies will be impacted.
Even the Eagle Valley Arts Council will now have to review their entertainment schedule that was being arranged for the Canada Day celebrations, such as the band on the barge or music on the lake. This will have to be cancelled and the grant from the federal government, through Heritage Canada, will have to be sent back to Ottawa.
This is just another nail in the proverbial coffin for the demise of Sicamous, provided by our district council which will eventually erode any local support from the taxpayers in Sicamous on any future decisions.
Mayor Trouton seems to be running a dictatorial government in our District. The future will tell.
The best decision that district council should make at this time is to reverse their motion and re-instate the Canada Day fireworks celebration.
Gary F.T. Ferns