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Saturday, July 21, 2012
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you...
This weekend tens upon tens of thousands of people who normally would be partying hardy here in the Pass will not be doing so this year, because of a visionless, scary cat, party pooping Mayor and Council.
Went into Blairmore last night and it saddened me to no end to see what typically would be a hive of activity with crowds and crowds of people, happily laughing, drinking, partying, celebrating and otherwise 'enjoying' themselves, reduced to vacuumless, meaningless, tiny pockets of activity.
People cutting loose in a 'celebration of life' was not to be seen. Instead, the likes of Fred Bradley and his cohorts were out selling 50-50 tickets to non-existing crowds for their 'family day' Heritage Festival of the dead, while the living were once again forgotten.
We tend to put more money and energy celebrating our dead past here than we do in celebrating the living present... and our future. This I think is wrong!
Party poppers and old timers have successfully killed this year's Thunder in the Valley (and in doing so, have killed Rum Runner Days, as well). Southern Alberta's biggest party by far at this time of the year will not be happening because we have a Mayor and Council more inclined towards promoting the dead past, than in celebrating living in the present moment... as even Christ told us to do.
As in a Greek tragedy, the Apollonians have killed the Dionysians, and in doing so have killed the human spirit, and the meaning of life itself.
The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshiped. It is our future in which we will find greatness.
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18 comments:
John, I imagine the local business community will certainly feel the loss of revenue this year. I still can't understand why the politicians think their decision was good for the residents of CNP. I hope all those that opposed TITV are happy with a quiet weekend. Take care.
Read the letter from CP Rail on the Municipal website. I can definitely understand why TITV was cancelled. Probably waited a little too long to do so by the looks of that letter. And I think "party people" were what caused the problems were they not.
Hi Chloe, nice to hear from you again.
This week local businesses will lose in the neighbourhood of seven figures, all so that a few people don't have to put up with minor inconveniences for one weekend out of the year. Never mind the loss of PR, branding and reputation that took years in the making.
Only narrow minded, short-sighted people lacking in both business sense and vision could do what this mayor and Council did.
Sad! Truly sad!!
JP
Anon @2:06
1. CPR issued that 'self-serving' letter at council's direction (see the date of the letter). (As a side note: I'm sure CPR really impressed visitors to this community with their whistle-blowing by two separate trains during our parade today. Definitely would scare anybody away from moving here or setting up shop, I would think.)
2. This current Mayor and council were the problem, not party people. Many communities actively cater to party people, think Fort Lauderdale in the states for example, or Kelowna's Peach Festival.
JP
We had discussions about the train whistles in Blairmore on Dean's site. Downtown Blairmore is where the majority of visitors go, and there should be arms put in downtown to avoid this situation. On the other hand, CNP is a train area and I don't know what else people could expect. The town has no jurisdiction over CPR whatsoever.
Anon @3:48
For decades CPR did not run trains during Rum Runner Days (RRD's). Suddenly, with this new Mayor and Council, they now do? What changed?
I suggest having a Mayor and Council that bit off more than they could chew by picking a fight with the BFD, while also looking for an excuse to back out of TITV, got a more than willing self-serving CPR to change their position on running their trains during RRD's.
JP
So are you saying this is the first year trains have ever ran during Rum Runner days?
If that is true, it is unbelievable isn't it.
They are proving themselves to be a deceitful municipal government of incompetents lacking intelligence, imagination and vision.
John,
In CP's letter to the council, when they talk about being unable to stage trains for community events, do they mean something like the thing they did last year on the Sunday of RumRunner weekend?
Anon @4:52
Yep!
Anon @6:25
You won't find me arguing with you on that point.
Anon @6:56
You'll have to refresh my memory as I'm not sure what they did or didn't do last year, on the Sunday of Rum Runner weekend?
JP
I think what he might be referring to was last year when you could book a ride on the train- I think for $25 or something like that you could ride to Cranbrook or something. Maybe it was just a special thing last year; but it was a paid for thing to CP. I believe it was an anniversary or something for CP.
John,
It was some anniversary thing, as poster 8:03 said. Marion V. was on it wearing a costume, along with some others.
I am sorry to hear about rum runner days but I for one with the large group we camped with every year during this time choose not to attend as we went to see the fire works show on Saturday. We would go down on the Monday and leave Sunday. We would all shop and purchase groceries ext in your municipality. My father in law volunteered during the lost creek fire. We spent every other weekend camping and quading in the cnp. We joined the quad squad and supported the community. It is sad a council who don't seem to understand the delicate financial success of this weekend helped the community grow and prosper. We met and spoke with many business owners and many of them make in one or two days during rum runner days what they would all month. The council did no research and are very blinded to what TITV did for community. Our group went to rocky mountain house instead of the cnp. Sorry but can't see us spending time in your community after the way you treated the BFD volunteers. These volunteers are phenomenal people and spent countless hours working on the weekend. The long wait afterwards has improved tremendously in the last few years at one time it was like a two hour wait and last year more like 45minutes. I hope that TITV is back next year for your communities sake.
Carmen
The weekend has turned out as expected. A nice local event.
Parking passes were a joke. The shuttle area in Frank had 3 cars and a empty bus in it. I drove in right before the parade and hid my pass and was waved through. Finding a parking spot was no problem at all.
The parade was quiet. The fireman did not show up with all of their equipment, so no sirens. Looks like the pissing contest continues.I support the Fire dept. all the way on this.
There were 2 brand new peace officer trucks in the parade.I think this is councils way of saying we will do as we please.Considering the amount of dislike this program has brought on, why would they shove it into our faces. A parade should be showing off the good things in the community.
There were a lot of police doing foot patrols.Maybe 2000 people, mostly local families are not much of a threat. Huge waste of money.
Will council now do everything in there power to bring back Thunder? Not a chance with this arrogant group.They will call the weekend a huge success.
Carmen,
Thanks for sharing your point of view that I'm sure are the sentiments of more people than council realizes, both locals and visitors alike.
Anon @8:24
What an excellent summary! What you experienced, my wife and I did too. From seeing 3 vehicles and an empty bus in the Frank parking lot to easily going through the Blairmore center access without having to show a pass, to no problems with parking.
Was I the only one who 'booed' as the Peace Officers went by (don't take my word for it, ask Yola Gregory who sat with us). :-)
If council doesn't bring back TITV next year, it'll be back the year after the next election, if I have anything to say about it. People here can take that to the bank!
JP
Drove through Blairmore Friday night and Saturday night and the streets were empty. More port-o-potties than people.
I created a Blog to highlight my disappointment with our town council here in the Crowsnest Pass. Click on the link for more pics of this uneventful day. The Fire Department has run the fire works here in the valley for 18 years. Turning it into a internationally recognized event. You can not buy that kind of publicity. Well with the brow beating of a couple high ranking individuals in the RCMP and a totally inept council this event was cancelled....or should I say the fireworks portion was cancelled. This is what we got this year.
http://nothunder.blogspot.ca/
Mike, thanks for your comment and feedback, and sorry for the delay in responding. I have included your comment in a follow up post because I think it is deserving of special consideration.
Your pictures, for those who weren't there, speak for themselves. We have a council that has a major disconnect with both the people and reality. They seem delusional and in a world of their own far removed from the one most of us live in. Sad!
JP
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