It’s back again and entering a new decade. The Flin Flon Trout Festival is a go for this summer and organizers are already making plans.
This year’s festival, the 70th edition of the event, will bear stark similarities to recent festivals.
Most of the typical events – Main Street Days, the Canada Day parade, the annual fishing derby and the like – will continue on for the 2020 edition.
“It’s going well. There are some vacancies on the board. We do need a president who can pull it together,” said vice-president Sheena Reed.
Reed will also coordinate the Canada Day parade, which will take place mid-week this year.
Reed said the committee would need a coordinator for the annual Fish Fry social, as well as Main Street Days. Former coordinator Anita Pruden is unavailable to run the event this year, but Reed said she can assist whoever fills the role.
One of the biggest wrinkles with this year’s festival is on the calendar – Canada Day, typically an important part of a weekend Trout Festival, is smack dab in the middle of the week. July 1 falls on a Wednesday this year, meaning festival organizers have had to plan how they will deal with two full weekdays between major events.
“Because July 1 is on a Wednesday, we’re going with the weekend before in the hope that it doesn't conflict with other events out of town and such,” Reed said.
“It’s going to be a very busy June.”
The Canada Day celebration will continue in Creighton as per usual, organized by the Town of Creighton.
“We will do the parade on that day and that will be the wind-up to basically a five-day Trout Festival,” Reed joked.
While the plans are still being formed, some events familiar to Flin Flonners will see some changes. The Trout Festival Fishing Derby will be extended, likely running this year from June 10-30. The Fish Fry will also see alterations, with the event possibly being moved from the Whitney Forum to the Flin Flon Community Hall and the sit-down fish dinner being removed. Reed cited low attendance as the reason for the change.
“We are looking at downsizing the Fish Fry because the Forum is just too big for that. It doesn’t draw the crowd that it used to – but first, we need to get somebody who’s willing to organize it,” she said.
Other familiar features, including the voyageur canoe races, will continue on as normal for now. The board and members on it have applied for a number of grants for this year’s event.
“I know there have been some people looking at creating some events earlier in the week or in the month, but we haven’t got the final plans,” Reed said.
“We’re hoping to have all our usual events.”
Despite finding sufficient board members later than usual last year, the 2019 edition of the Trout Festival did end up in the black financially.
“We had a breakeven position financially last year. We didn't make any money but we didn't lose money. That was quite great,” Reed said.
Volunteers can contact existing board members at the Trout Festival website at flinflontroutfestival.com.
