The committee working to rebuild Canada Day celebrations in Chatham is already promising to light up the sky next year, and extend the celebration over a couple of days.
After two years of no fireworks for the Canada Day festivities in Chatham, they will return June 30, 2017, according to Chris Glassford, chair of the Chatham Canada Day committee.
“We’ll kick off the whole thing on June 30, the night before,” he said, happy to have secured the fireworks display once again. “It’s a good feeling.”
Glassford said the date change for the fireworks is in no small part due to the fact the last two fireworks efforts fizzled in the late planning stages of the event.
“But this is a totally different committee. The last couple of years, the committee kind of let the ball drop and didn’t tell anyone,” Glassford said.
The cancellations didn’t sit well with the company putting on the fireworks, he said, and now Chatham lost its slot with that firm for July 1.
“The fireworks distribution company was getting upset that they weren’t notified they were no longer needed,” Glassford said. “So we lost our spot. We’ve put it on the 30th (of June) to try to get our spot back.”
As a result, the fanfare will take place over multiple days and locations. Glassford said the fireworks will light up the sky over St. Clair College – a spot deemed the safest place for the pyrotechnics.
“St. Clair College is the preferred site by the people putting on the fireworks. They need specific spacing between the crowd and the show,” Glassford said. “The tree coverage in Tecumseh Park and new developments posed an issue.”
On July 1, the Canada Day parade will return, winding through the heart of Chatham and ending up in Tecumseh Park, the location of the third phase of the celebrations.
Glassford said the park will house a full-day family festival, and, yes, there will be an enormous cake.
“That big cake – a lot of people on the committee stated that it’s a huge deal,” he said.
The festival will also include vendors, entertainment, a family friendly beer garden, activities and kids’ zone.
Glassford said there is a strong core on the Canada Day committee, but there is always room for more.
“Ten of us are strong on the committee who show up to every meeting. And we have some who pop in and help out when they can,” he explained. “We’d love more people to be involved to help out with ideas and to form a consensus.”
The committee will next meet Nov. 10 at the YMCA in Chatham at 7 p.m., and Glassford encourages anyone interested in helping to attend.
