INNISFAIL – The 2017 edition of the Scarecrow Festival is in the final planning stages and organizer Deb Stoski is hoping to crack the century mark in entries.
“If I could get 100 I would be a happy girl,” said Stoski following a presentation to Innisfail council on Sept. 25.
Stoski was at council to pitch a new and more convenient way for the town to fund the annual Thanksgiving weekend event on Main Street, which will have scores of scarecrow creations judged on Oct. 7.
While Stoski, who heads the Downtown Business Association, has been successful with getting past funding support from the town's Community Grant Program (CGP), she asked council to have the town's financial support placed in the town's annual budget, a move that would allow her to save time and not have to go through the bureaucratic process of filling in a funding application under the CGP.
“I consider the Scarecrow Festival an actual town event. It's not like the association had this idea of having a Scarecrow Festival. You guys requested us to do this for you,” Stoski told council during her presentation. “Rather than me going to the Community Grant Program and explaining the exact same thing every year to do the exact same thing, I am wondering if it could become a budget item and just every year we just get our funding. Nothing changes, so why couldn't this be on the actual budget?”
Stoski told council she hoped to get $2,000 from the grant program this year, which is almost double what she has received in past years. She noted it has been challenging in recent years, due to the recession, to get support from small businesses.
Council members were sympathetic to Stoski's request, with Mayor Brian Spiller noting there are items put annually on council's budget and the Scarecrow Festival could be another. The mayor said he would ask Henry Wong, the town's community services director, and CAO Todd Becker to prepare a report for council that shows how much the town has been sponsoring the festival over the years and bring back a report to council.
“This is really a community event. It does create a lot of buzz through the community on that weekend,” said Coun. Mark Kemball. “There are just a ton of people around. As long as somebody is stepping up and heading the thing, which we seem to have at the moment, I don't see why it shouldn't make its way into the annual budget.”
Coun. Doug Bos echoed Kemball's support, noting the event, which started several years earlier, gained a lot of momentum when it moved from the Innisfail and District Historical Village to Main Street.
“It draws a lot of people to town on the Thanksgiving weekend because they have something to do. I think it is a worthwhile event to support,” he said, asking Stoski if she's looking for somebody to step up in the future to take over the event.
Stoski responded to Bos by saying the Scarecrow Festival is not hard to put together, unlike the Weekend of Wheels event which she used to organize before the local Kinsmen and Kinettes took it over.
“I can continue to do that. Eventually I will want somebody else to pick it up, and I am hoping through another club coming up and seeing what I have to do, that may be something they can take over,” she said. “It isn't a hard event to do. The biggest hurdle I have is getting the word out and trying to get more people to build scarecrows.”
Any citizen that wants to contribute or volunteer at the Scarecrow Festival can call Deb Stoski at 403-505-6160.
Deb Stoski, festival organizer
"Rather than me going to the Community Grant Program and explaining the exact same thing every year to do the exact same thing, I am wondering if it could become a budget item and just every year we just get our funding."
