Houston ACT committee convened last fall to chart out events for this year's Winter Fest.
The committee discussed WinterFest chiefly but touched upon Harvest Festival and sports event in the summer in collaboration with the Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club (MMNSC). Board member and chair Dawn Potvin confirmed that residents will get treated to free events during WinterFest such as movies, bowling and swimming this WinterFest and she is looking to have fireworks during the event.
“We'll have to make sure that we follow all the permits and stuff, I'm going have to do that soon because I definitely want that as part of the advertising,” Potvin said.
The committee currently needs more volunteers to drive Class 4 passenger vans to drive people to the fishing derby and ski trails.
“We have four vans, and two main events that require shuttle service out there,” Potvin said. “I would like to see at least two volunteers per vehicle.”
“What we want to do is that we want to have a central location for pickup,” she added. “There will be an all-day fishing derby out at Irrigation Lake so they're going to need a ride out there. They will have free transportation out there and back, and then to get them up to the ski trails.”
Paralleling WinterFest, Potvin also talked about how she wanted to host an event in the summer by using the aforementioned trails.
“It also has to be accessible for everyone else. So I thought — summer event — that would be cool,” Potvin said to the committee. “Because you can get a geocaching group, the Houston Hikers involved, and just have a Houston trail day where you can run it — there's a race going on. There's a hike going on. Or a full day of something. I don't know.”
She wants to start an activity that allows everyone from the most sedentary to the fittest to participate.
District council first heard of this idea when The MMNSC's president Greg Yeomans highlighted how expansion of the trail system could lend to more sporting events such as races that will attract visitors and revenue.
Board member Marian Ells also talked about the Harvest Festival, which she estimated will be held in late September or early October.
She wants to host next year's Festival with a multicultural theme that involves “multicultural games, multicultural food”.
She will apply for a grant from the provincial government that funds multiculturalism efforts.