Like Mayor John Borrowman, we’d like to express our disappointment with Canmore’s Snow Tracks being cancelled.
From our point of view, turning Canmore’s Main Street into a tourist draw and fun locals hangout by creating an extremely unique mini cross-country ski mecca has been a good thing.
As a town that prides itself on being home to a very active community, where citizens embrace the recreational opportunities offered, we feel Snow Tracks was in keeping with that view. Further, Snow Tracks both beckoned and encouraged others to join in Canmorites’ embracing of skiing and our outdoors.
On one hand, seeing the joy on the faces of young and old alike as they ski on what is normally, like in every other town, a typical, paved, vehicles-come-first Main Street was clearly evident.
On the other hand, if, as Main Street businesses contend, Snow Tracks does little to fill their coffers, so be it. With Snow Tracks not being financially successful for Main Street businesses, then the Downtown Canmore Business Association has every right to pull its funding for the project.
But we have to wonder – what’s important here and who owns Main Street? We’d like to think Main Street is shared by everyone.
So we wonder; should another group that has seen what a major draw Snow Tracks is come forward with a proposal to put down snow and set the track once again, would it be a go? A pro-athleticism group, say, or maybe some other group which views physical literacy as something to be encouraged?
What if the Town of Canmore, for example, decided to throw a few thousand dollars from its ever-burgeoning photo radar bank account (page 14) at something many people enjoy as a community building project?
As the photo radar account continues to grow beyond the half-million dollar mark – and it will continue to grow, as no number of photo radar tickets written will reduce speeding – and if the Town won’t fund an RCMP member with the money (best budget practices or not), why not use the funds for Snow Tracks, something many enjoy and something that other businesses might find is a boon?
Most people would feel less animosity toward photo radar if it was seen that the money generated by it was being invested in something for the community.
Hopefully, the days of Snow Tracks are not done.
Thank you MasterCard
Much like a youngster opening a gift from under the tree on Christmas morning and having no idea what to expect, corporate giant MasterCard really came through with a surprise gift for the valley’s Santa’s Anonymous and Christmas Spirit campaigns.
With no advance warning, MasterCard’s Priceless Surprises truck rolled into the Bow Valley last week to unload eight pallets of much-needed toys in each town to bolster the two charities’ toy/hamper projects.
In one fell swoop, both organizations had much of their concern over toy gathering lifted. With a small mountain of toys now available, efforts can now remain focussed on food and cash donation gathering to round out Christmas hamper offerings.
Something that needs to be kept in mind, though, is that the majority of the toys from MasterCard were for the younger crowd. In both towns, there remains a demand for gifts suitable for teens; possibly a toy donation for older youth could be combined with supporting local businesses by purchasing gift certificates.
