The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
By Jonathon Naylor I could not for the life of me figure out why our MLA, Clarence Pettersen, was handing out corn on a stick during the Trout Festival. It was a nice gesture and all, and I'm sure the corn was scrumdiddlyumptious, but what exactly was its significance? As I later learned, corn on a stick harkens back to Trout Festivals of yesteryear, when this buttery treat fed the masses of participants. In his own way, Pettersen was helping to keep tradition alive. Kudos to him. Tradition is important. But it's no secret that while the Trout Festival is a time-honoured northern institution, some say it is time to freshen it up, to make it more modern. Of course the people making those comments are rarely willing to breathe that new life into the festival. They just sit on the sidelines and let a not-nearly-big-enough team of volunteers do the heavy lifting. It makes you wonder where all of the enthusiasm has gone. I remember how much vivacity there was in January 2010 when residents crammed the City Hall Council Chambers for a do-or-die Trout Festival meeting. Many solid suggestions were put forth that night. One of the best called for the creation of 'Flin Flon's Got Talent,' a talent showcase in which the audience votes on the winners. Sounds like fun! Other attendees wanted to tap into the sort of macho enthusiasm we see on display each year at the Demolition Derby, by developing events for quadders and dirt-bikers. This would certainly raise the festival's profile among our younger generations. Since then I have heard other informal ideas for the festival. A skateboarding contest for all of the North. A 'summer camp for grown-ups' at Camp Whitney. Soapbox races down Sipple Hill. It all sounds well and good, but events like that just don't launch themselves. They require organizers, equipment, sponsors, permits and so on. The number of volunteers the festival presently has is probably not enough for the events we have now, never mind new ones. So if the Trout Festival is to grow, and to survive in the long term, more people will have to get involved _ critics of the status quo included. Sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is. * * * Congratulations to the Flin Flon Fire Department on its milestone 75th anniversary. Congratulations also to Mayor George Fontaine, who during the anniversary banquet made it clear that he and his council will do what it takes to ensure the firefighters can do their job safely and efficiently. We all know it's cash-crunch time at City Hall, but anything council can do to assist these men will be money well spent. They have some of the most important jobs in our community, and we owe them all our gratitude. Local Angle runs Fridays.
