Mayla Janzen, president of the North Okanagan Canada Day Society, made a presentation to Vernon council June 12 (Liam Verster / Vernon Matters photo)

By Pete McIntyre

July 1

Vernon’s Canada Day: No fireworks but events ‘for all ages’

Jun 13, 2023 | 6:15 AM

Plans have been announced for Vernon’s Canada Day event to celebrate the country’s 156th birthday.

Mayla Janzen, president of the North Okanagan Canada Day Society, made a presentation to Vernon council June 12

Janzen said their plans on Saturday, July 1 are for a community-based celebration of “our town, citizens, and heritage” in Polson Park

“Our event will be free to attend and will have activities suitable for all ages,” Janzen stated in a report to council. “Our focus is to leverage a smaller budget and shorter timeline into activities, experiences, and features that have the largest impacts.”

Janzen said due to the fire danger, fireworks were determined to not be possible this year.

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Speaking with Vernon Matters following the meeting, Mayor Victor Cumming reaffirmed fireworks would not be safe.

“We’ve got a forest fire ban, let’s be very clear,” Cumming stated.

He added fireworks are also very expensive and require a lot of planning which the North Okanagan Canada Day Society did not have the time to undertake.

Events that will be held include live music from noon until 9:30 p.m. The focus will be on family-friendly, local artists, including Larissa MacNeill, Duane Marchand, Cat Wells and Del Rango & The D-Railers.

Other events will include a bike parade, a Fruitfest to help promote nutrition and local farmers, a skate competition at the skatepark, a pop-up water park and a dunk tank.

The Polson Artisan Night Market & Food-Truck Garden will also be on hand, and Cheers Shuttle Service will run loops in the park to help facilitate parking in the overflow across the bridge.

New for this year’s event will be a fenced-in area for valet bike parking, with the goal of encouraging people attending the celebrations to use active transportation.

At Monday’s meeting, Vernon council approved in-kind items requested by the society including the use of Polson Park, tables and chairs, employee site support, porta potties, traffic control, permits, fencing and signage.

Council also authorize the use of both the $10,000 and the $2,000 budget amounts for the society to plan and deliver family events for the 2023 festivities.