Tuesday marked the first official city council meeting since the eight-day Stars and Thunder festival wrapped up two and a half weeks ago. Although there were no specific festival related items on the agenda, just before adjournment some members of council took a few moments to comment on the biggest city-run event in Timmins history.
Councillor Mike Doody was the first to speak. He said in all of his 34 years serving as a member of municipal government, he hasn't had the outpouring of appreciation that he has experienced in public lately.
"Those who I know, those who I've never met, come up to me and say 'thank you', and to pass along their thanks to all the people responsible for Stars and Thunder," he said.
Doody said that everybody has the right to be 'for' and 'against' and ask questions, but when council decided to go ahead with the project, city staff, and later on hundreds of volunteers really stepped up to the plate. He wanted to make sure he publicly thanked them.
"They are the people that made it successful."
He mentioned that the crowds were made up of people from near and far, and that the event showcased the city well.
After Doody closed with another thank you, it triggered a round of applause from the members of city council, as well as city staff.
Up next, Councillor Rick Dubeau echoed many of Doody's sentiments, calling it 'an incredibly successful event', and praising the hard work by city staff in preparation. However, it wasn't all peaches and cream according to Dubeau, as he shared his experience on Canada Day.
"I went to Gillies Lake. I was there for two and a half hours. They had no music. They had no beer tent. They had nothing. They could hear music a kilometre away."
He implied there was an elitist angle to the city's coordination of this year's July 1 festivities.
"Canada Day is meant for everybody, and that's where, in my personal opinion, we failed. Canada Day is Canada Day. I tell you, my wife and I left there, we were sad, we were angry. It was not a good experience. I was there for three hours at least. The people had nothing. We had two different celebrations, for two different classes of people. Some who chose not to go, and some who we know, can't afford to go. And we failed there, in my opinion," said Dubeau.
That statement generated an exuberant round of applause from a lone man in the audience.
As Mayor Steve Black had already left the chambers due to a pecuniary interest, current Deputy Mayor Walter Wawrzaszek was chairing the meeting. He didn't appreciate the clap.
"Excuse me, excuse me. You're not part of the council meeting. Just listen. Thank you," said Wawraszek.
"There's been applause previously," retorted the man, who presented at council in March to express his opposition to the festival and Klingons.
Moving on with the meeting, Wawrzaszek also said he had spoken with many people in the community recently about Stars and Thunder.
"They were thrilled with this performance that was put on," he said, before also thanking everyone who worked on the event.
"I can't wait to see the encore," said Wawrzaszek proudly.
Multiple members of council say they have been thanked continuously by the public after the conclusion of the Stars and Thunder festival. Andrew Autio for TimminsTodayCouncillor Noella Rinaldo shared her experience, which included out-of-town visitors.
"Its too bad Mr. Dubeau had a bad experience. My granddaughter and son-in-law were here, and they went to Gillies Lake, and spent almost six hours there on the Friday (presumably June 30) and had a great day, a lot of pictures to show for it," she said.
"I think what we have to remember is almost 10,000 people a night were sitting in the Hollinger Park, taking part in the fireworks, minimum. The overpass was packed every night. Hollinger Park was packed every night, people enjoying the music, and enjoying the fireworks at no cost. So although it was a great success 'inside', I think it was a great success outside. Because so many people were able to enjoy the fireworks and the music, and the Gillies Lake. I'm not sure what happened on Canada Day, but I do know the rest of the week was quite a success," she said.
Rinaldo called the festival a real economic driver for the city. She mentioned a downtown smartphone repair shop who allegedly tripled their usual weekly business.
"I know how many we lost in the porta-potties. Those were not the ones he fixed," she said.
"It was amazing, and the whole feeling throughout the whole city was absolutely amazing. I think Councillor Doody said it right, it was really quite a magical week. It was tiring but it was a lot fun," said Rinaldo.
Councillor Veronica Farrell said she heard 'nothing but good things' about the festival.
"I myself attended almost every day. I've had many people come up to me and say that they wish we could do this again, and I'm hoping that we are going to be able to do it again."
However, she did acknowledge that there were some foibles that occurred during Stars and Thunder, but chalked those up to rookie mistakes.
"It is our first time doing this, so we have a learning curve. So maybe things we may have done wrong this time, we know we will do it better next time. Anything you do for the first time, that is going to happen," said Farrell.
A financial report on the festival is not expected to be released for several more weeks.
