Outside of Council Chambers March 25, Dave Mensher and Connie Barker displayed newly earned awards for Pumpkinfest from Festival and Events Ontario including: Best New Single Sponsorship Opportunity, Best Community Partner Outreach Program and Top 100 Festivals and Events in Ontario.
Hub Staff
At the March 25 Saugeen Shores Committee of Whole meeting, Pumpkinfest Coordinator Joanne Robbins presented an update on plans for the 2019 festival as well as some prospective partnerships in regards to the Beach Flea Market and Pumpkinfest’s Event Resource Centre.
In November of 2018, Port Elgin Pumpkinfest (PEP) evolved to become its own independent not-for-profit corporation, a graduation which has opened new doors for the organization to become much more than a two-day festival. Already an opportunity has presented itself for PEP to take over the weekly Beach Flea Market in Port Elgin, after the Port Elgin Tourist Association folded. Robbins proposed using the $500 weekly cost used to hire a private business to run the market and donate the fee to a different local not-for-profit who will, in turn, run the event for a given week. With three clubs already showing great interest in the idea Robbins felt filling the 10-week season would not be an issue.
“We have a good relationship with our local non-profits and I think this is great opportunity, a win-win for everybody," said Robbins.
PEP will hold a booth at a Volunteer Fair scheduled for May 1 for interested groups to sign up to run the beach market for a week.
Reinforcing the united community theme, Robbins introduced their plans for the Saugeen Shores Resource Centre. “Pumpkinfest belongs to the whole community, we believe so does the equipment," she said. "We would like to set up, with Marine Heritage’s help, a coalition or a co-operative of the users, the non-profit groups that use this equipment," explained Robbins.
The Resource Centre is used by many organizations including the Huron Shore Run, Gran Fondo, Pumpkinfest and the Marine Heritage Festival. Instead of renting the equipment, Robbins suggested members can borrow and return items at no cost, and of course donate additional equipment to build on the collection.
Both proposals garnered support from numerous councillors, Deputy Mayor Don Matheson and Mayor Luke Charbonneau.
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