Iconic Summerland light festival denied funding by wary council

Photo: Mike Biden

Summerland's iconic Festival of Lights has been told to scale down this year after council rejected a Chamber of Commerce request for $30,000 in funding to hire a project coordinator and other organizational costs.

The festival, previously known as Light Up, has been a staple of the community for many years, gathering crowds from around the Okanagan and clogging the downtown streets with people — a concern in the age of COVID-19.

It was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, and if it returns in 2021 it will likely be a much smaller version, though festival organizers will need to come back to council with another pitch.

Council expressed concerns over crowd control, COVID-19 control, and constantly-changing public health orders that are unpredictable.

"You don't want to spend that money and not be able to pull it off. That's a concern that I have," Coun. Erin Trainer said.

Chamber of Commerce president Ron Kubek was on hand at the meeting fielding questions, attempting to waylay concerns.

"Our promotion will be focused only on on Summerland. Does that mean that they're not going to invite their family or friends from everywhere else, I don't know, but we'll be doing everything we can, and monitoring the best that we can, if we have to fence off the whole of downtown just to do the event because Interior Health hasn't changed the rules," Kubek said.

"Businesses are looking for things to bring people back downtown."

Coun. Doug Holmes suggested a "Mini Light-Up."

"We need to be thinking that the pandemic is still going to be around ... I don't think we're out of the woods yet and I think we need to plan with that in mind.

Council voted unanimously to deny the request, but left the door open for the Chamber to come back with another, smaller idea.