The Town of Canmore is forming a new committee in an effort to effectively manage events occurring in the community to minimize negative impacts they may have for locals while balancing them with tourism needs.
A new event committee was outlined to council at its last meeting before summer recess by Chris Bartolomie, supervisor of arts and events.
Bartolomie explained the committee is operational and so it is not a committee of council. She said the committee will write a community event policy and also function by reviewing events proposed in the future.
“We need a vetting system in place and this committee will do that,” she said.
Once the policy is in place, Bartolomie said, it will set out parameters for events, especially in the summer months, and be able to determine how many is too many.
Mayor John Borrowman expressed concern that too many events are occurring in the summer months and that volunteers in the community are getting burnt out.
“I think we are on the same page, we can’t just keep saying sure in June, July, August and September,” he said.
According to the staff report, the committee’s purpose is to develop, assess and monitor a strategic plan for events, advise on policy and procedures related to events like street closures, recommend changes to improve efficiencies, partner to create a volunteer management strategy, identify opportunities to create capacity and identify infrastructure needs to support current and future events.
The committee will have seven members, including Bartolomie, a member of Canmore Business and Tourism, a member from the downtown business association, two event producers and two members from the community at large.
Along with creating an overall policy, it is expected the committee will advise on development of a Town of Canmore road closure policy. The community event policy once created will address the types, frequency, volume and timing of events that occur.
