The annual Welcome To Timmins Night will be held differently this year.
For the past 26 years, the event was a one-night, two-hour long event held at McIntyre Curling Club with over 120 community organizations participating and up to 600 people attending.
However, this year, Welcome To Timmins LIVE will be held virtually over the course of several weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a long-standing event, that’s why we really wanted to make sure it continued in some form,” said Mike Scott, local immigration partnership co-ordinator for the Timmins and District Multicultural Centre. “And we’re hopeful that next year, we can return to our traditional format and then have everybody in-person again.”
It will be a weekly event via Zoom every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Each week will have 10 organizations that will have about three minutes to present their programs and services followed by a Q&A session from viewers.
Registration closed last Friday and so far about 45 organizations will be presenting.
“We understand the new format and a lot of these organizations simply don’t have the bandwidth to do Welcome To Timmins Night this year,” Scott said. “We’re focusing on what we can control and giving people the opportunity and if they’re able to take it, then that’s fantastic. We’re happy to have them.”
The first session is Sept. 9 and will feature Downtown Timmins BIA, Employment Options Emploi, CDSSAB - Northern Treasures, CDSSAB – EarlyON, Timmins Family Counselling Centre, Contact North, Science Timmins, Sports for Kids Timmins, MPP Timmins Gilles Bisson and Kiwanis Club of Timmins Inc.
The first 500 attendees will be able to join via Zoom. For those who won’t be able to access Zoom, there will be a live stream on Welcome To Timmins Live Facebook page and YouTube channel. The recorded video will be posted on YouTube afterwards.
In the past, there would also be a non-perishable food and stuffed toy donation but this year, half of the proceeds from registration will go towards to the Anti-Hunger Coalition Timmins that’s been “leading” this community through the pandemic in terms of food security, Scott said.
There will also be a special edition on Nov. 4 featuring several local francophone organizations. It will be held during the National Francophone Immigration Week which is celebrated in the first week of November.
“I’m extremely excited. The response from our participants and organizations that are typically part of the event has been very, very positive. Everybody’s extremely happy to see it continuing in some form,” Scott said. “It’s really a pleasure to be a part of this event to put it together."
