The Canada Day fireworks and festivities in Timmins will have a new home in 2016 at Hollinger Park.
The historic and centralized park, formally named Fred Salvador Park, will play host to live music and events, while the annual fireworks show will be launched from the northwest corner of the Hollinger Pit berm.
In January, city council voted 8 to 1 to move the celebration from the Participark and Mattagami River area in Mountjoy, to a new location.
At the time, council considered two options: Participark yet again and Gillies Lake.
"It's pretty much fair to say, either location could host the celebration, but a third site has also been reviewed" said Director of Tourism and Events Guy Lamarche on Monday night.
Gillies Lake was chosen by council as the preferred site, but as Lamarche explained at city hall on Monday night, a few logistical issues stood in the way.
The Rotary Club announced at council in February, that the formerly titled 'Ribfest' will now be called 'ParkFest' and will take place in Hollinger Park on June 25 and 26.
He said tearing down, relocating, and re-assembling inventory such as tents and stages within a few days of each event just doesn't make sense, therefore Hollinger was determined as the best site for this year.
Lamarche says approval has been granted by Goldcorp for the fireworks launch site. Imerys Talc has approved the temporary closure of Water Tower Road for the event.
Lamarche added that fundraising efforts for the fireworks themselves is actually ahead of last year, which was the unofficially dubbed 'the largest fireworks display in the city's history' by the Tourism Department.
He mentioned the possibility of additional programming that could be staged at Gillies Lake.
This included relay races, scavenger hunts, and games such as 'greased watermelon' and 'pie face'. A description of said games was not provided.
Lamarche said he has been in discussions with the operators of Timmins Wake Park, and intends to speak with Boardwalk Rentals regarding Canada Day plans for the Gillies Lake area.
It was then time for council to chime in with their concepts.
"I support having it at Hollinger Park, I think its just as great of a venue and has ample parking and all of the plusses that Gillies Lake didn't have, especially given that you do have permission from the corporate partners" said Mayor Steve Black.
Black did have some 'hesitation' to Lamarche's plans to heavily include Gillies Lake within the city's programming.
"I've always been asked, could we do all the events at Hollinger Park and still have the fireworks at Gillies Lake? My thoughts on that with the fireworks committee has always been, we don't want a large number of people trying to cross the highway to get to the fireworks, then cross back to get to the entertainment again after the fireworks. Logistically, I think we would receive a lot of backlash" he said.
Black told Lamarche that the majority of the planned games could be accomplished at Hollinger Park, including a beach volleyball tournament.
"I'm not sure why we would be trying to diversify two locations so close to each other? If someone wanted to make an argument that we should have festivities in the east end, and maybe do some beach activities at White Waterfront Park (in South Porcupine) for those that can't make it to Hollinger Park, I could maybe entertain additional locations from that perspective" he said.
A few on council didn't agree.
"I really like the idea, quite frankly" said Councillor Pat Bamford.
"This sounds like a good plan, and its a way for us to consolidate what the City of Timmins is doing for Canada Day, so I'm certainly supportive of it" said Councillor Andrew Marks.
In a somewhat casual consensus vote, council approved the move to Hollinger Park.
