Jazz & Blues in the Village, Sarnia - SODA

Introducing Jazz & Blues in the Village, Sarnia
SODA

THE INSIDE SCOOP is fortunate to obtain interesting SCOOP from Donna Stewart, Jazz & Blues in the Village, Festival Director and the Committee. This year the Festival takes place September 14 & 15^th in McGibbon Park, Sarnia. I wanted to share with you a little about this wonderful event. … “Jazz & Blues in the Village is not just music in a park but is “a unique experience” as we invite people to “come and party under our tent”. 

Jazz & Blues in the Village is a charity fundraiser for the Sarnia Organ Donor’s Awareness Group. At McGibbon Park, in heart of the city, hundreds of people will enjoy a unique intimate festival experience. Weather under the heated tent (the evenings in September are cool) or among the sun and stars, at a table or on your cozy lawn chair, you can enjoy the sights and sounds.

“In 1994, the Sarnia Organ Donor’s Awareness group (SODA) was founded by two organ recipients, David Tully and Pat McLean. Their desire was to give something back to their community for the gift of new life they had been given.”

“SODA is a registered charity whose work is undertaken by a small but dedicated group of volunteers. We are not part of a national or provincial group and all money raised stays within Lambton County.”

The SODA mission “to increase public awareness of the need for organ and tissue donors; to provide support to a recipient before, during and following their surgery, to assist families with medical and other related costs, which may occur before, during and following transplantation; to provide funding to our local research facility to assist ongoing research in the area of transplantation; to educate the general public on organ and tissue donation”

“Several years ago, we recognized the need for SODA to have a “signature” event that would help increase the profile of our charity within Sarnia/Lambton and at the same time would generate additional funds to help support local families going through organ/tissue donation and/or transplantation. From that need has grown the music festival now known as “Jazz & Blues in the Village”. The festival takes place the third weekend of September and has become a true community event with many local businesses, individuals, volunteers and jazz and blues enthusiasts whole-heartedly embracing our event. Through this event SODA’s profile in our community has indeed grown!”

(To Be Continued)

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Judy McWhirter
Buckhorn Community Centre

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Celebrating 35 Years

"Keep Smilin"

"THE INSIDE SCOOP" continues speaking with Judy McWhirter, Manager of the Buckhorn Community Centre. I go on to ask Manager Judy McWhirter.

 

During my interview with you Judy, I will be writing (to enlighten Ontario Visited website visitors) some brief information about some of the signature events held at the Buckhorn Community Centre, particularly for this edition of THE INSIDE SCOOP? "The Buckhorn Community Centre offers a wide range of major fund-raising activities throughout the year. Checkout our EVENTS CALENDAR regularly for upcoming events. As a not-for-profit organization, the BCC depends on these activities to meet its operating budget each year."

I asked Ms. McWhirter how does the Buckhorn Community Centre "keep things fresh" for the patrons and vendors? We learn here that ..."Well, I think the vendors with improvements at the BCC and know that we are working keeping the BCC up-to-date, making sure that there is always something new."

One question I like to ask festival/events I asked Judy, "Why do you think the Buckhorn Community Centre is an important part of our society and the community today and what role do you see as its importance? She replies . "The BCC is a meeting place, gathering groups, holding activities. It's a great place for events as it is unique. For residents and cottagers it is a great way to join a centre and get involved, meet new people and contribute to your area."

With the economic challenges today, it would seem it critical to obtain/maintain Sponsor funding and Other Sources of funding. How you go about obtain funding? Judy tells us . "We actually do not have a lot of sponsors, we are rural. We are always looking for Grants."

 Over the course of the year, I am collecting some anecdotes to publish. I asked Judy if she something you would like to share in our THE INSIDE SCOOP special "anecdote" edition? Simply she replied . "Keep Smilin"!

Check out Buckhorn Community Website at http://www.buckhorncommunitycentre.com/

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Judy McWhirter
Buckhorn Community Centre

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Celebrating 35 Years

"Challenges on the way to success"

"THE INSIDE SCOOP" continues speaking with Judy McWhirter, Manager of the Buckhorn Community Centre.

Leading back to Judy's role, planning the year's events at the Buckhorn Community Centre would be a great undertaking. Judy tells us ... "I know when our major events are always a year in advance and she is aware of when the holiday lands in most cases." This year is a special year for the BCC and the Buckhorn Fine Art Festival celebrating 35 years of success! She tells us that the initial event was created to raise money to pay off the mortgage. The SCOOP is that there are some of the challenges that the "visitors" do not see. Judy made me laugh when she said ... "Rules and Regulations that even I have to follow".

Sadly though, she reports the demise of one event (Fiesta Buckhorn) which was a sad loss. From the BCC website . "It is with great regret that the Buckhorn Community Centre Board of Directors announces that after 16 years Fiesta Buckhorn has been cancelled. This decision was made due to the enforcement of the Liquor License Act regulations pertaining to not-for-profit fundraisers held under a Special Occasion Permit or an existing Liquor License. We will continue to monitor the rules and regulations of the Liquor License Act and should updates be made to it that allow us to return to the original 16 year old format we may revisit this situation. We thank all our exhibitors, volunteers and visitors to Fiesta Buckhorn for your support and attendance over the 16 years."

So how does a festival/event overcome some of thee challenges? Ms. McWhirter states ... "Complain? ... Lobby our politicians for helping network with other events with what they are doing".
 (To Be Continued)

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Judy McWhirter
Buckhorn Community Centre

Interview with Judy MCWHIRTER - BUCKHORN COMMUNITY CENTRE

Celebrating 35 Years

"The Concept"  

"THE INSIDE SCOOP" continues speaking with Judy McWhirter, Manager of the Buckhorn Community Centre. I go on to ask Manager Judy McWhirter.

Some festivals/events gear their activities and focus on specific demographic makeup of attendees? In other words, it is helpful to identify the types of visitors attend the many diverse Festivals & Events offer. Judy tells us their focus is towards many groups, including ... Young couples, school groups, seniors, geographic areas travelled from to visit, economic status, attracting each at some point during the year. In discussing this, we wondered what the philosophy and thought process of the decisions in respect to the concepts, activities, themes, events at the Buckhorn Community Centre? Ms. McWhirter states ... "When the BCC was built; members of the Community felt Buckhorn needed a larger place to hold dances ... that had indoor plumbing". As stated on the Buckhorn Community Centre's website ... "Would you mortgage your home to help build a community centre? Well, incredibly, 30 years ago a group of very special people had a dream and a vision. They saw the need for a community centre in Buckhorn. These courageous and generous people actually did mortgage their homes to realize their dream. With the help of Wintario funding, they built our Buckhorn Community Centre." "Construction of the original building was started in the fall of 1977 and completed in the spring of 1978. For the original building, the designer was Dave Rome, the architect George Hilton and the builder John Chretien. The Buckhorn Community Centre opened its doors to the public in March 1978 with activities such as dancing, bingo and floor hockey that year. That spring, President Bob Creighton approached local artist Edwin Matthews with an idea to have an art show as a fundraiser to help pay the mortgage. That is how the Buckhorn Wildlife Art Festival and Sale began. At the time, no one knew if people would want to come to a little hamlet like Buckhorn to enjoy and buy art. Various committees were set up by the Centre to start the process. Edwin Matthews organized our "Buckhorn Wildlife Art Festival" project with incredible enthusiasm and vision and the rest, as they say, is history. By 1994, many of our events had outgrown the facility. Ontario Infrastructure funding enabled our Centre to build an addition doubling the size of the building. In 2007, the Buckhorn Community Centre celebrated 30 successful years of service to the community".
 (To Be Continued)