Quesnel Can Take A Bow For The Air Show
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
Quesnel scored another victory over the weekend in pulling off yet another successful air show in that city. 7800 people attended the event, a goodly portion of those from Prince George.
It is also interesting to note that the community has likely attracted the aerobatics group to use that City’s runway as a practise venue in the future. In the past Rocky Mountain House in Alberta has been a primary location for practise and moving that to Quesnel brings with it attention from a very large circuit across Canada.
The efforts of Jerry van Halderen , himself an experienced pilot, and all of the volunteers that assisted in the event shows that the community to the south is not being swallowed up by Prince George.
While we headed off to China in search of a twin, Quesnel on the other hand rolled up its sleeves and put together a very commendable air show.
It speaks volumes about what some hard work and dedication can do.
The Prince George Exhibition ( now the BC Northern Exhibition) has a constant struggle on its hands partly because the City has offered minimal support. The City did offer a cash injection to the World Baseball Challenge but it would seem all of of P.G’s eggs are being placed in the Canada Winter Games Basket.
While the Games may be a major event, local smaller events have had a real challenge trying to land sponsorships because many of the tradtional "sponsors" have pledged their dollars to the Canada Winter Games.
But there is Quesnel, hot off another successful Billy Barker Days, and now, a successful airshow that drew plenty of folks from P.G. . It is great to see that a smaller city is able to make things happen and they deserve a lot of praise for their success.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
A reminder from the 250NEWS report in April
blog/view/28191/9/quesnel+city+council++approves+3%25+tax+hike?id=&st=465
The Society will receive staff support for communication, planning and mapping, full use of airport property, airspace and access thereof in accordance with their license; the supply of all emergency personnel and overtime for staff, the provision of aviation fuel at cost for air show performers and static display aircraft for the air show (not including demo teams and general fly-in traffic), a $10,000 contribution ($3,000 already budgeted and $7,000 from the 2013 Council Projects budget), a fuel truck, and the mowing of the leased areas around the airport.
Life goes on. Taxes increase to support it.
How about we put the politicians on minimum wage and watch how fast things get done.
The Billy Barker day parade in Quesnel was very good, and far outshone the Elks Day parade in Prince George. I would guess that at least 5000 people lined the streets to watch the parade. (Community spirit??) Even our own Mayor was in the parade.
If vehicles heading South from Prince George Saturday morning the day of the Airshow are any indication I would say that 50% of the attendance was from the Prince George area. Good to see that level of support for an adjacent town.
Prince George used to have a super parade a number of years ago, however it seems to have fallen to the wayside. Part of the problem is the passing and retiring of those people who used to get things done, and the lack of interest in those coming behind.
Funny how PG can’t seem to support its’ own airshow. Why is that? Because once again PG tried to do big city venues using a small town budget?
I agree that Quesnel seems to have a better community spirit than PG has. PG’s culture has become very insular over the past 20 or so years, and I don’t know how that gets changed.
Maybe sites like this one contribute to the negative attitudes that seem to prevail.
Remember the old days?
Simon Fraser Day’s
That was always a good time for 5-7 days.
Back in the day PG supported such things as the Northern canoe race, the raft races on the river,Highland Games, snow golf, the Sand Blast, the hill climb off the Old Summit Lake Rd and an excellent May Day parade. Those days are all gone but still remembered by such as me. People in PG no longer seem to care or don’t have the time to support such events at present. As for the old PGX (or whatever they now call it)in my opinion it never has been a class act in my 40 years in PG. The attitude seems to be to charge PNE prices for a small regional exhibition. The idea is good but the prices are way out of line and I’m told that there are cut backs this year in the attractions but not the entry and parking prices. My rant for today.
If the mayor and council took more interest in community affairs and supported events like the exhibition there would be better attractions. A great deal of volunteer time goes into the PGX and next to no support. Get out and support it. Greater attendance could mean lower prices and more attractions. The same goes for the Cougars and most other events. Get off your butts. There’s my rant!
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