By battlefordsNOW

More entries needed for Battleford parade to take off

Jul 21, 2017 | 12:44 PM

The Town of Battleford’s 34th annual parade is facing some challenges this year and will need more participants before the show goes on Aug. 11.

Members from the Parks and Recreation department brought their concerns to the latest town council meeting July 17.

“They did say if they don’t get enough there is a risk the parade won’t go,” Mayor Ames Leslie said. 

Town of Battleford parks and recreation superintendent Jordan Schechtel, said the parade currently has only 10 entries registered and needs about 30 for there to be a sufficient amount. He added tradionally partipants included horses but none have been entered so far. 

“We’ve had declining numbers now for basically the last decade,” Schechtel said. “So the rec committee decided to monitor how many floats and entries we do get. If the numbers continue to decline, it’s something they will have to look at possibly cancelling. We have all intentions of it going ahead this year, but of course it all depends on the number of entries we receive.

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“In the last few years we have had in the 40 to 50 range [of group entries], so of course we would want to keep it in that range.”

Schechtel added roughly 10 years ago, the parade had as many as 90 entries, which was a big attraction for the town.

Participants usually include non-profits, businesses, and various community organizations. 

If any community groups or organizations wish to enter their group for this year’s town of Battleford parade they have until August 7 to sign up. The theme for the parade this year is Canada’s 150th anniversary.

As an incentive this year, the town is also making the arena available for anyone who wants to store their float between the time of the town of Battleford parade and the Northwest Territorial Days Parade in North Battleford. 

The Battleford parade starts at 7 p.m. and finishes at Vital School. The town’s evening festivities finishes with fireworks at 11 p.m. at Battleford Eiling Kramer Campground.

Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival Cancelled

Previously, the parade was tied into the Saskatchewan Handcraft Festival and would commence after the festival finished for the night on the Friday. 

However, the festival was cancelled this year which was another challenge for the town. 

“Anytime there is an event that is lost that is one thing less going on in the summer on the weekends for the town,” Schechtel said.

The Saskatchewan Craft Council (SCC) executive director Carmen Milenkovic confirmed while the festival has been cancelled, the SCC plans to keep a strong presence in the area, “to celebrate craft in the Battlefords.”

“We work with the Chapel Gallery too and would like to continue that work,” Milenkovic said. She said the SCC doesn’t focus on festivals now, since there are so many various related arts festivals taking place around the province. The SCC is instead putting its efforts into other projects.   

“At first the Saskatchewan Craft Council was about markets, it’s not that anymore. It’s a much bigger, broader program,” Milenkovic said. 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW