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.
It's do-or-die time for a Flin Flon institution. The fate of the Trout Festival hangs in the balance as residents (hopefully many of them) prepare to attend a crucial meeting this Monday to decide the fate of this long-standing summer tradition. A volunteer drought and lukewarm public interest has compelled the hard-working organizers to give the community one last chance to salvage the festival or replace it with something fresh. That we have reached this tipping point is not surprising. Year after year, a small, largely unchanging nucleus of men and women have put in untold hours to ensure the rest of us had an extra reason to look forward to the Canada Day long weekend. These board members have been asking themselves for some time whether Flin Flon and area really, truly still wants this festival. The answer, I'll dare to venture, is no, at least not in its current form. Recent years have brought a conspicuous lack of enthusiasm from the community for the Trout Festival. Competing interests Ð including Dauphin's Countryfest or plain old R & R Ð have increasingly suppressed turnout. Yes, there are still hundreds upon hundreds of people who take in the festivities, and they quite naturally have a great time. It just seems like so many of them are indifferent: if the festival is on, they'll go; if not, well, they'll just find something else to do. Unfortunately, it is not difficult to see why the electricity that once surrounded the festival is browning out. The loss in recent years of such staples as the Queen Mermaid pageant, the Month-Long Fishing Derby and Bakers Narrows Day have eroded appeal and given the impression of a festival that is dying the death of a thousand cuts. I bring this up not to slight the existing volunteers Ð thank goodness for them Ð but to illustrate the consequences of the public's apathy toward this festival, at least when it comes time to help organize it. There is only so much a handful of people can and should be expected to do. For a Trout Festival renewal to succeed and endure, fresh blood and, just as importantly, fresh ideas are a must. If carnival rides on Main St. aren't drawing the crowds they used to, let's examine what will. If the Chamber of Commerce or Lions Club can't make a go of the now-defunct Bakers Narrows Day, let's find someone who can. The Trout Festival owes its contemporary existence to a small group of people who have been forced to punch above their volunteer weight. What the festival urgently needs is a large team of people willing to chip in just a little bit of their time. As board member Dianne O'Brien put it, "Many hands make light work." There is always talk in Flin Flon of our supposed lack of volunteers, but it's a myth. The Rotary Club's Operation Red Nose relies on dozens upon dozens of helpers. For each night the service operates in December, a service club, school or business is found to supply volunteers. Again, it's the principle of many hands making light work. Many, if not most, people are happy to do their part for their community; they just don't want to be overwhelmed or stuck in a volunteer position no one else will take over. The community must now tap into that spirit of citizenship to save and rework the Trout Festival. The festival will never be what it was back in the 1960s and '70s, but we need to develop it into all it can be for the '10s and beyond. At the Trout Festival annual general meeting this Monday, let's get out there and show we care. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at City Hall and everyone is welcome. Local Angle runs Fridays.
