Engaging area residents key to Lily Festival's future

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Published on Thursday, October 2, 2014

Concerned residents gathered to talk about the future of the Lily Festival in Neepawa

By Kate Jackman-Atkinson

The Neepawa Banner

Judging from the crowd at Monday’s public meeting, the community would like to see the Neepawa and Area Lily Festival continue, but new volunteers are still needed. The crowd of close to 30 people were overwhelmingly in support of the festival carrying on, although perhaps in a different format, or with a slightly different focus.

The public meeting provided a forum for people to propose new ideas for the festival and signal their interest in helping out.

Outgoing chairman Ken Waddell opened the meeting by outlining the festival and its history.  A signature event, lilies and the festival are strongly tied to Neepawa. “It’s a known event, people attend annually,” said Waddell.

The festival has been running for 18 years and operates with a board and a paid administrator.  The administrator works year round, full time in the weeks leading up to the festival and two days a week for the rest of the year. During the festival, between 200 and 300 people give their time to bring the festival to life.

The festival is predominantly funded by grants and sponsorship, although it makes some money from the sale of wristbands and vendor spaces.  The festival is a popular stop for the vendors, many of whom are already booked for next year’s festival.

The festival spends about $100,000 a year, mostly with local businesses.

While the festival has turned a profit in many years, the past three have been losses and a loss is expected for 2014. The loses are a result of a decrease in both grants and sponsorship. Waddell noted that with over 75 groups and organizations in Neepawa, not counting churches, businesses and governments are constantly being approached for money.

The floor was then opened to the public for ideas and feedback.

Incoming Neepawa councillor Isobel Jarema presented a possible new vision for the festival.  She presented an idea that would see a festival composed of different, independent pavilions. While the Lily Festival would be the organizing umbrella, the individual pavilions and events would be run and financed by the individual groups.  The pavilions could include horticulture and the lily show, international entertainment or food, children’s activities, arts and culture, a farmers market, musicians, dancers or sporting events. The pavilions would pay the Lily Festival a percentage to help cover administration services and advertising.

To a smaller extent, this is already happening– groups such as the Margaret Laurence Home and the Quilt Guild run their own events during the festival weekend.

Neepawa resident Lynne Backlund moved to community five years and is a strong supporter of the festival. She wanted to see events spread around town, encouraging people to venture beyond the cordoned off area on Hamilton St. She also wanted to see more variety in the festival. “I can’t bring my friends back, they’ve seen [everything],” she said.

Eleanor Nicholson, co-founder of the festival, said, “We need new ideas.”

Both mayoral candidates, Bob Durston and Adrian de Groot were supportive of the festival and would like to see it continue.

The continuation of the festival will depend on new, or returning, volunteers stepping up to join the board. At times, there have been as many as 30 people involved at the board level, the number has fallen to just eight, many of whom won’t be seeking re-election at the general meeting in November. 

While the support for the festival was strong among those in attendance, there weren’t many new faces in the crowd. The festival’s future success will require the buy-in of more community members to help organize the festival as well as to attend.

The question of how to attract local residents continues to be a problem without a solution. In some years, the festival has brought in big name entertainment, but this has been unsuccessful and resulted in financial losses.  

Monday’s meeting was to be a general community meeting, with invitations extended every business and service club in the town, few of whom sent representatives.

The children’s activities remain a bright spot, successfully attracting area parents to the festival. Parent Jenna Kilburn said, “My kids look forward to the festival, [and] they have never seen a lily,” 

Some in attendance questioned the lack of financial support from the Town and local businesses. “If the Town has decreased the grant, that tell me the town fathers don’t think it’s important, they don’t care if the Lily Festival is bringing new money to the community,” said resident Myra Bennet. Neepawa mayor Bill Stilwell responded noting that they are faced with many groups asking for financial support. He said that they continue to support the festival, including by providing town staff to help set up and run the festival. “The Town sees [the festival] as the main event of the year… The Town has been there since day one,” he said. 

Chamber of Commerce past president Sheri Grant explained the lack of Chamber support for the festival. “We suffer from a lack of resources and volunteers, we can only do so much with what we have,” she explained.  She added that like the festival, the Chamber is experiencing a lack of engagement on the part of a younger generation of volunteers.

Joyce Strohman, of the Lily Nook, noted that many visitors come to their store and show gardens south of town, but very few of then are from Neepawa. “Nobody from Neepawa comes out,” she said. The wife of festival co-founder, the late Barry Strohman, she was supportive of a change to the festival and its name.

Rochelle Unico moved to Neepawa five years ago from the Philippines and loves the flowers in Neepawa. “I grew up in a city where you can’t see flowers,” she said. She has been involved with the festival for the last two years and said that the Filipino community in Neepawa will continue to support the festival going forward.  “If we put our heads together, we can come up with a new festival, as long as there is a Lily Festival,” she said.

The next step for the festival will be for the current board to take feedback from the meeting and see if they can prepare a slate of candidates for next year’s executive. A final decision as to whether the festival will carry on will be made at the AGM next month. Anyone interested in more information can contact board members Ken Waddell or Brent Hunter or Audrey Heffell at the Lily Office.

Oct 2: Correction to Sheri Grant's title with the Chamber of Commerce