Not so silent E - Either lend a hand or get over it!
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- Published on Thursday, July 9, 2015
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner
Much like the local reaction to the Canada Day celebrations in Neepawa, Eoin Devereux finds himself conflicted on his opinion toward the lack of festivities. This week, he writes two separate editorials examining both sides of the argument he鈥檚 having with himself about it. You can read to other editorial, 'We failed at Canada Day.' at the attached link.
In case you hadn鈥檛 noticed, and judging by the attendance that night you didn鈥檛, there was a Canada Day celebration at Riverbend Park. It featured fireworks and鈥�, well that鈥檚 about it, just fireworks.
A fair amount of negative reaction has since popped up from people who were not all that happy with the lack of events to mark the day. To those people I say鈥et over it!
What many people seem to forget about Leisure Services department in Neepawa is that it鈥檚 completely funded by the Town. Other communities have recreation commissions, which are volunteer boards funded by a group of municipalities and hire an independent recreation director to organize special events, like Canada Day. In Neepawa鈥檚 case, Leisure Services is responsible for things like Canada Day, as well as the Winter Festival, sports dinner, the pool and at least a half dozen other year round endeavours.
On top of that, have you tried to buy fireworks lately? I鈥檓 not talking about those bargain priced ones that you can get at the gas station but the actual industrial sized, big kaboom variety. Those are not cheap. Accordingly to the Town of Neepawa and it鈥檚 spring resolution on the Canada Day celebrations, the fireworks alone cost $7200. Taking that into account, if municipal officials had simply come out with a statement saying 鈥楬ey, money, time and other resources are tight, so don鈥檛 expect much this year,鈥� the backlash would have likely been a lot less. I know I鈥檇 be okay with that. I鈥檓 a grown man, I can buy my own sparklers. Just keep my property taxes low and make sure I don鈥檛 fall into an Eoin-sized pothole when I鈥檓 driving to work.
What truly intrigues me about the reaction of the people are the comments, which have ranged from 鈥榖oring鈥� to 鈥榣ame鈥� to 鈥榃hat do you expect? It鈥檚 Neepawa.鈥� It鈥檚 that last comment that caught my attention and the degree of apathy behind those words. It actually leads into a bigger problem that must be dealt with.
If the Town can鈥檛 provide the nonessential services and that鈥檚 what all the secondary events of Canada Day actually are in the grand scheme of things; then where are the local service groups and individuals who are willing to step up and say 鈥楲eave it to me.鈥� We assumed somebody else would do all the work and then were upset when nothing got done.
Doing something great is hard. For Neepawa, it鈥檚 more than that, it seems damn near impossible, so we don鈥檛 try anymore and just hope somebody else will do it. That鈥檚 not the way it can be anymore. We鈥檝e got to say 鈥業鈥檓 a member of this community. Neepawa is my home and that statement has value.鈥� Until that time, don鈥檛 blame the town for a less than thrilling Canada Day. Just say thanks for the running water and be on your merry way.
