A cloud of doubt may soon surround the 69th edition of the Flin Flon Trout Festival.
No candidates stepped forward for any of the organizing committee’s vacant executive positions at a meeting on Nov. 15, leaving it unclear who will organize and run the next festival next summer.
Two current board members – parade coordi-nator Sheena Reed and Anita Pruden, vice president and Main Street Days coordinator – are willing to continue their positions.
No other members are returning. This includes president and Fish Fry coordinator Melissa Richard, treasurer and canoe race event coordinator Colleen Arnold, fishing derby Dave Osika and volunteer coordinator Barb Hopkinson.
Richard said she would step down due to other responsibilities.
“I still want to be a part of the Trout Festival. It’s just that I have work, school, I’m a single parent and I have the Trout Festival. I had to let something go and I couldn’t commit as much time to the festival as it deserved,” she said.
Richard said the Trout Festival’s future is uncertain, but the group may pursue help from other community organizations, even the City of Flin Flon itself, to continue the festival.
“I can’t see Flin Flon letting it go. This will be the 69th year and I can’t see Flin Flon just not letting it happen,” she said.
“We all have memories of the Trout Festival. I grew up and took part in it. It was exciting and we all had fun. I don’t see it completely dying out, but right now, we’re still looking for people who want to be executives. We just don’t have the people to fill the spots.”
Last year, the Trout Festival included some new events, including changes to the traditional Fish Fry social. A formal, sit-down fish fry dinner and a special area with casino games were introduced. Richard considered those new moves successful.
However, poor weather conditions may have played a role in lower-than-expected turnout for some events, including Main Street Days and the fishing derby. Richard said changes may come for other events or for the date of the next festival, all in an attempt to keep it alive.
“Maybe people want to do it on a different weekend. Maybe people wanted new events. I know we tried to bring back the fishing derby and that didn’t work because of the weather. We were really hopeful for the fish fry. Maybe one of the solutions would be to change it back a weekend, because we did change it,” she said.
“I remember seeing older pictures of the Trout Festival. They had more than a hundred people running the festival. The only reason it’s stayed alive is because of the volunteers and the small businesses in town. I don’t know if it’s because the population dwindled or what, but every year I’ve been part of the Trout Festival, it’s been so hard to try and find volunteers and people to fill spots in some areas.”
