PORT HARDY, B.C. – Anticipation is building for this year’s Filomi Days in Port Hardy.
The event is a tradition for the region, and will be celebrated from July 20th to 22nd at Carrot Park.
Thomas Kervin, a member of the Filomi Days committee, said the festival celebrates industry in the region, particularly fishing, logging, and mining.
“We will have a lot of local art and entertainment. We’re actually hoping to include neighbouring First Nations communities more this year than we have in the past,” he said.
“This could include the opening ceremonies, singing and dancing, but it’s really up to what the indigenous leaders are willing to do.”
He said there will be a wide variety of food and vendors from the local area.
“Saturday and Sunday, we will have live music right on the lawn at Carrot Park. We will have the usual soap-box races on Saturday, the big parade (Saturday) to open the whole event,” he said.
Kervin added that on the final day, residents can check out the boat-building contest.
He said a dance for teens on the Friday night has also been suggested.
“There’s a Saturday night dance for those over 19 years old. We are holding a movie in the park Friday night. On Sunday, there’s a duck race,” he said, expressing enthusiasm over the wide range of activities.
The event is free to attend, thanks to donations from local businesses, according to Kervin.
“I can’t stress enough that it’s the businesses in our community who donate a lot of money, time and effort to make sure this weekend is free for everybody.”
He added that volunteers are needed during the festival weekend.
“Especially for the kids’ events,” he said.
“Say for instance, we had each person put in one hour, we need at least 80 volunteers.”
Anyone who would like to volunteer can contact the District of Port Hardy office.
“Every year, we seem to have a lot of people who are more than willing to put in their time at these sort of booths (kids’ events) and we need that,” he said.
“On top of that, we do need volunteers for the parade itself, for clean-up and actually organizing it, and being a part of it.”
Kervin listed vendor registration as $25 for one day, and $40 for two days.
He said there will be a ten per cent commission on food sales only. He explained this helps the committee put on the festival each year.
“Without that commission, it’s just not possible to put on this yearly celebration.”
Vendor registration forms can be found through the Filomi Days Facebook page.
