New members breathe new life into Winter Festival

Out of that group, 15 people signed on to become new directors on the board for the Winter Festival, and owner of Big Drum Media, Barry Mihilewicz, has been elected president.

Trina Joseph was elected vice-president, Megan Mayer Treasurer, and Krystal Halliday and Karen Cay Co-Secretaries.

Musician Donny Parenteau was one of those 15 as well and he said moving forward, it’s all about listening to everyone’s ideas and opinions.

“It’s like anything the same thing I tell [the] Telemiracle cast and crew as soon as we walk in, you better check that ego at the door, I don’t care what you’ve done, I don’t care what I’ve done,” said Parenteau. “When we walk through that door we’re here for the same reason, and that’s to keep the festival going, that’s all I’m here for.”

During the meeting, Parenteau was very animated about his feelings on keeping the Winter Festival alive and running.

“If you want to talk the talk you gotta walk the walk, so jump in,” said Parenteau. “The one thing that I do when I speak I’m very passionate, I’m very passionate about what I do and what I believe, and what I believe is that I don’t want to see this end.”

Parenteau wasn’t the only one to stand up and voice his opinions.

Sheryl Kimbley, representing Voices of the North said it was important to keep Winter Festival going to give groups like Voices of the North the chance show off their talent in Prince Albert.

She said that as more events come to a close, they lose their chance to stay connected to the city that they came from.

Going forward, Parenteau said that it’s important to keep up with trending technology in order to advertise properly.

“We’ve gotta hit the social media a lot harder,” said Parenteau. “We have to try to get more volunteers.”

Parenteau said he already has some ideas on how to draft younger volunteers.

“What I’d like to do is get some of the schools and maybe campaign for the students and say how about your school, your school will take care of this portion from this time to this time,” said Parenteau. “It also teaches our youth how to volunteer, because if we don’t start teaching them how to volunteer, the volunteers who are here today will be the last ones.”

Outgoing president Darrell Prokopie said that he believes the possibility of losing the festival altogether triggered a response.

“Sometimes you have to realize how close you are to maybe losing something before it’s acted upon,” said Prokopie. “We put the word out for last week’s meeting, there were a few people around but pretty quiet crowd, and not nearly as passionate as tonight.”

And from the passion, Prokopie believes that there will be newly generated interest from the city as well in the next Winter Festival.

“I think the future is very good, I’m quite excited about the Winter Festival,” he said.

“There’s some very exceptional names on that list, people who have been involved in the community at various things for many years and have done it very well, people who I know are passionate about what they do.”

And Prokopie said that this is exactly what the festival needs.

“People who have a passion and are doing it for the right reasons,” said Prokopie. “And the right reasons are ensuring that an event that’s been very important to P.A. for 50 years continues down the road.”

The newly elected board will meet again on Sunday at St. Albans Hall at 7 p.m.

Prokopie said that they will begin looking for volunteers and planning out the festival details.

“[They will] begin the process of making the 2015 Winter Festival, the 51st Annual, a go.”

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by James Bowler

New members breathe new life into Winter Festival

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