Although the Sundre Petroleum Operators' Group (SPOG) made the tough call to cancel its annual Neighbours' Day fair this year, an official said the event will eventually be back.
“We're going to postpone this year due to the circumstances with the economic environment that we're in,” said SPOG executive director Tracey McCrimmon.
“The optics of having an event like this when there's still layoffs going on, we're cognizant of that,” she said, adding that it's not as though companies no longer see value in the event.
“This year they just don't have the resources to staff it.”
This year would have marked the 18th annual Neighbours' Day, which was originally developed with the goal to provide residents a chance to learn more about the local oil and gas industry. It is the first time in that span that the event has been held off.
However, SPOG officials want to continue to keep the lines of communication between industry and people open, she said.
“We're going to look for some other opportunities to engage our community stakeholders,” she said.
Although details had yet to be finalized last week, McCrimmon said there would be a scaled down version of Neighbour's Day.
“We still want to engage our community stakeholders,” she said, adding SPOG will be investigating different options to do that this year.
The decision to postpone Neighbour's Day this year was “very disappointing for us,” she said. However, SPOG officials understand the situation all too well.
“We haven't seen a downturn like this since the '80s,” she said.
“It is disappointing, but it will give us the opportunity to come back as strong if not stronger next year,” which is the intent, she said.
Once SPOG officials come up with alternate plans for stakeholder and community engagement for this year, details regarding any such event will be announced, she said.
Neighbours' Day has always been a very well attended community engagement event averaging more than 1,500 people attending each year, said a SPOG press release.
“This year, SPOG will be hosting three stakeholder engagement evenings in the SPOG boundaries in the fall to continue to engage our stakeholders and community,” it said.
