Gibsons council has voted to provide funding for the Gibsons Shorelight Lantern Festival out of the money it had set aside to support the now-cancelled Sea Cavalcade fireworks.
The Town has already agreed to provide $5,000 out of the $16,000 budget to help with the Sea Cavalcade Society’s one-day “thank you” event, scheduled for August 11.
Council weighed two other proposals for summer festivals at a special meeting June 25.
The lantern festival proposal, which is being coordinated in part by Verna Chan, who also organizes Music in the Landing for the Town, is planned for July 27 and would involve a community picnic and concert in Winegarden Park, as well as lantern building followed by a procession along the foreshore.
The organizers said they’ve already got a commitment from well-known Toronto musician Michael Occhipinti, who’s going to be touring in B.C. at that time.
The group requested $7,600.
The other proposal was for an event called Light Up Gibsons, which the proponents described as “an amazing ecological and sustainable alternative for the fireworks.” They would use computer-driven projections to “light paint” the faces of public buildings, sailboats in the Gibsons Harbour and other surfaces with “an original musical score that is responsive to the visuals.”
Their costs were estimated at $14,250.
Council went with the lantern festival, and Mayor Bill Beamish noted that Chan’s group did try to coordinate with the other proposal. “It just didn’t seem feasible to do. The other one really needs almost total darkness to be effective and it might be a little early in the season to do that, but maybe we could look at that later on in the year,” he said.
Beamish also pointed out that the Town doesn’t have the funds available to support “Light Up Gibsons.”
While council was unanimous in its support, several also had suggestions to offer. Coun. Aleria Ladwig said she was concerned the lantern festival idea was too focused on the Landing.
“I love the idea, I think it’s great – it’s just very Lower Gibsons,” she said and asked if there were ways to bring in Upper Gibsons by doing things like having the procession start in Upper Gibsons and make its way to Winegarden Park, like the previous Sea Cavalcade parades.
Coun. David Croal also suggested encouraging people to make a lantern and hang it on their homes.
Another suggestion came from Coun. Annemarie De Andrade, who asked the organizers to look into ways to minimize waste, such as collecting the batteries used in the lanterns for recycling.
In total council agreed to take $9,045.21 out of the money set aside for fireworks, which would cover the lantern festival’s $7,600 budget as well as anticipated costs to the Town. They’re also setting aside $1,955 to help with insurance costs if needed.
