TimminsToday has received the following letter to the editor from Great Canadian Kayak Challenge and Festival Chair Guy Lamarche
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The 10th Annual Great Canadian Kayak Challenge and Festival is now behind us and by all accounts, it was the biggest and best so far. The weather co-operated and the three-day festival was hugely successful for everyone involved. A record number of people came out to enjoy a fun-filled weekend of water based competitions, art, culture, children activities, performing arts and live entertainment. The spectacular evening concerts, the Saturday fireworks extravaganza and Sunday’s water ski/fly-board stunt show drew record crowds. A special thank you to Eastlink for sponsoring the main stage, Whysall International Fireworks for sponsoring the fireworks and to D&L Towing for sponsoring the Summer Water Sports stunt show
On behalf of the steering committee, we want to extend a heartfelt thanks to our 127 generous event sponsors , Indigenous partners, Into the Wild North Yoga, the Ontario Fur Managers Federation, True North Voyageur Brigade, Wild Exodus for providing Pontoon Cruises, Kiwanis Club for sponsoring the Children Village and providing complimentary cotton candy, Tim Hortons for the complimentary coffee, Pal Wing (Winger) for leading the Car Show initiative, Brush Strokes Timmins, the Alzheimer Society for leading the Rubber Duck Race, the HGS team overseeing the 3 person fun sprint, the Moose FM team overseeing the No Kayak Competition, the team leading the Canadian Tire 5 km Guided Family Leisure and Shore Lunch, Essential Helicopters for coming here, our many exhibitors, and food and beverage service providers. Without your participation there is no festival, let alone one that is recognized as being a Top 100 in the province.
To the dedicated army of volunteers we say thank you! You are the “unsung heroes” of the festival. Working in the trenches is not always glamorous but the tasks of parking control, waste removal, volunteer hydration, race judges, registrations and the hundreds of other small, but important jobs, must be done. The parking was under control, and the park was immaculate throughout the 3 days. Your unselfish contribution was duly noted by the thousands who attended the festival.
We also want to thank the participants both on and off the water for your support. To the residents, and the thousands of tourists attending this festival, thank you for coming out and encouraging the paddlers, the vendors and the many artists. We hope to see you again next year!
A special thank you goes out to the city’s maintenance group and supervisor Gerry Paquette. Your attention to detail was appreciated. The set-up and tear down was seamless.
To Roztek Environmental, thank you for the unbelievable service. Despite the crowds, you got her done! It was appreciated by everyone.
We also extend a “special” thank you to the media: print, radio, broadcast and online for assisting us with the task of building our Great Canadian Kayak Challenge & Festival brand and helping us create “top of mind” awareness of this end of summer festival. Your support has gone a long way at ensuring the event’s success and we truly appreciate it. A special thanks to 92.1 Rock, KISS FM, and Moose FM for being the dedicated partners that you are. The live remotes and MC duties are truly appreciated. And to Eastlink, thank you for providing extended coverage of the festival throughout the weekend. Your live to air broadcasts went a long way and reinforced the fact that ours is one of Ontario’s Top 100 Festival. As always, you went over and above and for that we say thank you!
To First Student Canada, Timmins Police, OPP, Timmins Fire and Mountjoy Fire, Timmins EMS, thanks for keeping our public safe.
To JPL Group (JP Legault), D Movers Construction and Trucking (Dave Pilon), and The Brick (Brian Vacchino), thanks for coming to my rescue at the 11th hour and providing the artists with comfortable backstage dressing rooms and providing the Festival Organization with a comfortable office trailer.
To J & B Cycle & Marine, thanks for supplying gold carts and a boat and motor. To Mikey’s, thanks for the media pontoon boat service. To Equipment North (Gates Caron), thanks for supplying caution highway signs, diesel lights, zoom boom and fencing. To Go Mini (Ron Bruneau) thanks for supplying the secure storage trailers.
To Porcupine Springs, thanks for keeping staff and volunteers hydrated. To Pepsico, Pick of the Crop, and Larabar, thanks for keeping the participants energized. To Dr. Michael Columbus, thanks for keeping our participants pain free. To D & L Home & Cottage and Northern College thanks for encouraging youth to participate in this challenge. To DJ Taz (Peter Lawryniw) thanks for providing sound stage two and setting up sound at judges’ deck.
To the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority, thanks for allowing us to use the park. To Guiho Trucking and Custom Concrete thanks for donating beach sand and to Equipment North, thanks for lending us a Bobcat to help us stead the sand.
Finally to the members of the festival steering committee, the Tourism Timmins staff Marnie Lapierre and Lacey Rigg, and to Jennifer McGee & Emilie Gauthier, are valued summer students, thank you, so much for your immense contribution. You are valued members of the Tourism Timmins Team and you always rise to the occasion!
The steering committee will be meeting soon to de-brief this year’s festival and to start planning the 11th Annual Great Canadian Kayak Challenge & Festival. It is our hope that we can continue enhancing the festival by incorporating new and exciting activities while maintaining our unofficial reputation of being North America’s “best in class” paddling festival. We hope that all of our sponsors will return and that many other corporate entities will get on board with financial support allowing us the luxury of staging a bigger and better event in 2019.
Stay tuned for more, and once again, thanks you Timmins!
Guy Lamarche,
Festival Chair
On behalf of the Great Canadian Kayak Challenge and Festival Steering Committee
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