The City of New Westminster is aiming to go big for this year’s Canada Day celebrations in Queen’s Park.
Biliana Velkova, the city’s arts coordinator, said the city’s Canada Day is working with a variety of community organizations on plans for this year’s event and is planning to expand the calibre of performances at the annual event in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.
“We would like to expand throughout the park, have more signature programs, roving entertainment,” she said.
Coun. Bill Harper said he’d like to see events go beyond the park so there’s “a grand celebration” of Canada’s birthday. He said a variety of organizations joined the city in celebrating the City of New Westminster’s 150th birthday throughout 2009, including sports organizations.
“Canada Day is the birthday – but a 150th birthday should be celebrated for the year,” he said. “You don’t need to put a lot of money going to doing that. It should be woven into a lot of things. Some of the street festivals can have that as part of their theme.”
Coun. Mary Trentadue, chair of the Canada Day subcommittee, said the city also going to connect with organizers of the Canada Day fireworks and a multicultural festival that will take place at Westminster Pier Park that day. She said the subcommittee’s role is to plan the city’s July 1 event in Queen’s Park.
“We have been talking with a number of different organizations in the city. The idea was to take over Queen’s Park, virtually expand much further than we have historically,” she said. “We have been speaking with the farmers’ market, the New Westminster Arts Council artisans market, really trying to bring all kinds of things that make New Westminster fantastic into Queen’s Park for the day, really expanding what we have done.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr suggested the city should invite First Nations communities that have had a role in New Westminster, as well as representatives from its three sister cities, to the July 1 event.
