On Tuesday evening, the city council approved a staff report sent forward by the Recreation and Culture Committee. The report from Events Coordinator, Leigh-Anne Doyle, recommends the city host the traditional Ice Fishing Derby on Feb. 24, 2024, but change the location to Elliot Lake at Spine Beach.
The fishing derby is normally an annual event. It was not held in 2021 or 2022 due to the pandemic. In 2023, the derby attracted a pre-pandemic-sized crowd of 431 fishers and turned a profit.
During the presentation, Doyle told the council that staff looked at another location option because of issues with accessibility that arose in 2023.
“Elliot Lake was suggested from the Spine beach. It's a lot flatter there. The parking it offers is a larger parking lot that will allow us to offer some more accessible parking as well as a better drop-off area. It also allows for parking along Spine instead of along the highway.”
Last year, traffic parked on both sides of Highway 108 leaving a narrow, snow-covered roadway for vehicles and pedestrians to share. “With the amount of parking that happens during the ice fishing derby. It does make it a little bit dangerous pulling out from those intersections,” Doyle added.
Collins Hall will again be used as the venue for prize announcements and warm-up space. “We're looking at doing the same thing as last year and having everybody come up to the Collins Hall for the prizes, maybe make a few adjustments with having some of the door prizes drawn ahead of time to not delay how long everybody has to wait for us to draw all the names.”
The arrangements for snacks and refreshments are still to be finalized. “I do have a group that has stepped forward since last year knowing that we were interested in having an outside group do a canteen,” Doyle told the council.
Some of the councillors inquired whether the event at Collins Hall would be licensed.
Doyle responded, “We weren't really planning on having it as a licensed event this year. Last year the group that did it found that the bar did not do so well. There's an added expense to it for a third party. Well, even if the city does it.”
Doyle continued, “The bar doesn't do very well. One of the groups that I had asked said that the event won't be it won't be worth them doing it. This group is very interested in doing more like a food canteen offering non-alcoholic beverages.”
Council and staff agreed that the date and location were the points of decision and other details can be determined as the planning goes forward.
Councillor Rick Bull commented, “The location, I think, will be prime, especially for accessibility issues and especially for the parking. Keep everybody off the highway. We don't know what kind of weather we could get on that day. If we have to plow or not, it could be dangerous.”
Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan said, “I think switching the venue for one year is worthwhile, especially considering all the committees that I'm a part of that have concerns. The accessibility is number one. Parking, and the level, nice, easy easement into the lake from the parking lot is probably going to help everything.”
The council approved the event by unanimous vote.
Event organizers are planning a safer, more accessible Ice Fishing Derby for Feb. 24, 2024. Additional information will be shared closer to the event date.